Avatar Amelia
by AllRoadsLeadTo
Summary: The Avatar has been reborn into a new world in need of saving, can she stop the slide into darkness?
1. Aria 1-1

A/N: Here's another story I recently wrote.

_**Air 1.1**_

I sat down at the kitchen table and began to play with my scrambled eggs. I was tired, exhausted really, and even though I should have felt hungry, the food didn't look appetizing.

_'We could fix the tiredness,'_ Claire supplied, _'it wouldn't be hard.'_

_'We can't do that Claire, remember we kept that secret,'_ Korra said. _If we aren't careful they'll find out.'_

_'And if Carol finds out Amelia has a power like that, she'll totally flip out,'_ Han added.

_'Especially since we've kept it secret for years now,'_ Rai commented.

I sighed and lifted a forkful of scrambled egg into my mouth and chewed mechanically. They were right that I could have used the power I inherited from my father to fix myself up, but it had been a late night for New Wave, and with Carol's constant, coldly suspicious contempt I couldn't risk anything that would be too strange, like suddenly becoming impossible to tire or being able to start earthquakes or throw cars.

It's ironic that in a family organization of capes with public identities, I'd need to hide the full extent of my powers, or have a 'secret' identity.

My name is Amy Dallon, and I am Aerodyne, a cape with the power to control gases.

"Morning Ames," I heard a familiar voice say as arms wrapped around me from behind. I turned to look at my adoptive sister, Victoria, and smiled, feeling happier just from seeing her. "I didn't expect to see you up already, especially after last night."

I shrugged. "I wanted to get started on the day." By growing a new biological helmet.

Worry marred her face. "Well it's good to know you're okay after that hit from Purity."

_'Yeah, that one looked like it hurt,'_ Korra said.

"So am I," I agreed.

Victoria nodded and walked over to where Carol had left the scrambled eggs in the skillet.

_'Eyes in front!'_ Korra ordered and I snapped my eyes back to my plate fighting down a blush.

_'Chill, Korra,'_ Han said. _'I mean it's not like it's her fault who she likes, and honestly you shouldn't be one to throw stones.'_

_'Excuse me?'_

_'I can see our memories, so I know all about your failure of a love life. Seriously, Mako? What about dark, brooding and wooden appealed so much to you? Was it the personality? Because if so, I have to say that I've met cardboard cutouts with more dynamic personalities.'_

I stifled a giggle as Korra cried out in ingination. _'My love life's bad?! What about yours, you crass crettin!'_

I froze as I saw Carol's cold eyes locked on mine. "What's so funny?" she asked.

"Uh…j-just thinking about someone I know," I stammered as I looked away from her bruised face and tuned out the background conversation.

The others had told me not to reveal the full extent of my powers to the rest of New Wave because of how dangerous it was. Ever since Rai had pointed out the distant suspicion Carol always treated me with, I'd never been able to avoid seeing it in her face whenever she looked at me. It was like she was waiting for me to turn out to have been a villain the whole time, and that was with her only knowing about my power over air. I didn't want to think about what she'd do if she ever found about the fact I was effectively an S-class threat with my powers.

Even if it meant hiding the fact I could heal people.

_'Don't worry about it, Amelia,'_ Claire said, _'remember we've got plans for that! I can't wait to try it out!'_

_'Yeah, don't worry about it, either it'll work as well as the bug armor or it'll backfire horribly and kill lots of people,'_ Han added.

_'Thanks for the encouragement,'_ I replied sarcastically.

"Anyone I know?" Vicky asked as she sat down at the table next to me. I noticed Carol's frown deepen momentarily at the sight before she returned to eating as well.

"Uh…no, you haven't met them as far a-as I know," I said.

_'Technically she has,'_ Rai commented.

"Oh, well do mind sharing?" Vicky asked before taking a forkful of scrambled eggs.

_'Me included!'_ Claire chimed in.

"Well…okay," I said, unable to resist Victoria's natural charm.

_'There are worse weaknesses to have,'_ Han commented.

_'He knows, he had them,'_ Korra retorted.

_'Ouch.'_

"He was talking about another…person I know, and he said that she had worse taste than…uh…" Vicky looked at me with a quirked eyebrow. "…someone else I know."

_'Smooth.'_

_'Shut up Han.'_

"Oh?" she asked inquisitively.

"Y-yeah, he said her boyfriend had less personality than a cardboard cutout," I said before shoveling more egg into my mouth.

_'It's only the truth.'_

_'Don't make me get the newspaper.'_

Vicky made a cute smirk. "And what about this other 'person you know?' How about them?"

_'What newspaper, we're dead!'_

I started choking on the eggs I just swallowed.

_'Whelp, that was quick.'_

_'Not helping Han.'_

_'Shut up and let her concentrate!'_ Rai snapped as I started manipulating the air in my lungs and esophagus to force the eggs back out of my airway. I swallowed as Vicky patted me on the back with her face a mixture of amusement and concern.

_'Kiss her!'_

I blushed and looked at the floor, trying to hide it.

_'I swear Han, I **will** find a newspaper here, and I **will** beat you to death with it, if you don't stop.'_

"Um, anyway, I was going to go by the library before school started," I said to distract her, and my self.

"Again?" Vicky asked. "You've been going there a lot."

I shrug, still looking at the floor. "Just picking up a few books, and dropping some off."

_'I don't think Carol buys it.'_

"Okay, well I guess we can make it if we go now."

"Thanks," I said as I got up.

"No problem Ames," she said as she finished off her plate. "I'll be ready in a few."

"Okay, I'll get my stuff together now," I tell her as I clear my dishes of the leftovers I wasn't going to eat and put the dishes in the dishwasher. I then leave for my room to pack up, feeling Carol's eyes on me until I was out of sight.

A few minutes later and the two of us were ready to go. We walked outside and Vicky wrapped her arms around my abdomen to hold my up in the air.

"Ready, Ames?" Victoria asked.

"Yes," I replied, gripping her arms firmly as she lifted off. As I touched her skin, every cell in her body unfolded in my mind.

_'Can we go the Graveyard after school and finish our underwater lair?'_ Claire asked.

_'I've always wanted a secret lair,'_ Han added as we lifted off.

_'You already had one and broke it,'_ Rai said.

_'Hey! That totally wasn't my fault!'_

_'Yes it was,'_ Korra retorted.

My name is Amelia Claire Lavere, and I am the Avatar.

+AA+

A/N: I'm not sure how good the characterization and the writing are. Please let me know how I can improve them.

Carol is suspicious of Amelia.

The past lives are trying to help out, and have been for years.

Claire just wants to have experiment and have fun.


	2. Aria 1-2

**Aria 1.2**

We flew over the city towards the central library. It wasn't the closest, but it had the widest variety and if Victoria was taking me then it was simpler to pick up and drop off books there. I could have flew there using my aerokinesis, or airbending, but that would have taken longer since while I could fly with my glider, I couldn't get even close to Victoria's speed.

After breakfast, I didn't really want to hear the continuous bickering of my past lives so as we passed over a hardware store I close my eyes and concentrated, mentally pushing them away. The mental doorway they spoke through closed and I felt my biological sense of Victoria fade in intensity slightly while still remaining clear.

Ever since I was five, they had spoken to me, offering advice or just making inane comments about my life or each other. While I appreciated their company and companionship, it was still a relief to be alone in my own head every once in a while.

I let out a sigh and relaxed as Vicky carried me across the city.

It was nice, I always liked soaring through the air, especially if it was with Victoria. Before she triggered, I'd be the one who would fly her around the neighborhood with glider as she held on. Now, she was the one that carried us.

Thinking back on it, I probably shouldn't have tried hiding most of my powers when I was adopted by the Dallons. Maybe I'd be closer to Carol and Mark if I wasn't constantly trying to hide my other powers, but I'd been afraid, of them and the Protectorate when Claire and the others had explained my powers to me. I had powers so much worse than my father's, and they'd locked him in the Birdcage. And I had voices in my head telling me to do things, which probably wouldn't have gone over well.

That was our reasoning, and sometimes I regretted it, but seeing how Carol looks at me now, I know that it's too late.

At least I'm close to Victoria, though only because of those same lies. If she knew the truth she'd treat me the same as Carol does at the very least.

And I'd probably deserve it. I slumped in her grip.

"What's wrong Ames?" Victoria asked, noticing my mood.

"I'm just tired," I lied.

I could feel her frown and how she opened her mouth, about to say something before deciding against it and closing her mouth.

We flew in silence the rest of the way to the library and set down on its front steps. This early in the morning, especially on a weekday, it was relatively empty, though the street outside was crowded with the morning rush. It wasn't as crowded as the massive skyscraper filled metropolis that was Republic City or Caldera City in Rei's lifetime, and unlike those cities the problems Brockton Bay faced were much more obvious.

I shook off memories of the life I'd been shown and entered the library. It was certainly large and filled with books of all kinds, including old textbooks and scientific texts. That was my reason for coming, in order to use my biokinesis and my various bending powers to their fullest, I needed to understand what they could do and as much about how they worked as possible. This meant I needed to read as much about biology, physics and mathematics as I could since knowledge and skill was only shared in the Avatar state, and none of them had been particularly studious in life, so they couldn't help me in finding ways to exploit my powers in way I thought [i]should[/i] be possible. After all, if the Avatar can control all four "elements," then shouldn't I be able to use all four at once for general telekinesis, or use metalbending to assemble a computer? And if earthbending can manipulate coal, then what about plastic or bones? I did know that waterbending could heal and control people's bodies, so how fine of a control could I get, could I effectively have remote biokinesis? Since I could remotely manipulate objects with bending, could I "sense" my environment with bending like Toph and a few others that my past lives remembered?

The feats from their memories had mostly been accomplished without a detailed knowledge of the physics at work, or at least how bending interacted with the work with small objects. There had been one metalbender who had managed to level half of the Fire Nation capitol with nanomachines.

+AA+

_We stood atop Sun's sky bison outside the reach of Qiángbì's liquid metal._

_"Hit him hard! We have to stop him now!" I cried out as I sent a double punch of blue flames down_

_Sun nodded. "I'd hoped we wouldn't need this, but here goes nothing." He hefted the long rocket launcher onto his shoulder and aimed at Qiángbì, who was smirking up at us._

_I charged up a lightning bolt and the two of us fired at the same time, the roar of lightning and explosives sounding in harmony and a cloud of smoke covered the roof Qiángbì had been standing on._

_We waited for what had seemed like an eternity in tense silence, waiting for a sign he had dodged or blocked it somehow. But when the cloud cleared he was still standing there, smirking._

_Then he crouched and _jumped _fifty feet straight up to meet us, landing on the sky bison before we could swerve away._

_"What!?" Sun cried out. "How can you survive everything we throw at you? Metalbent dust doesn't do that!"_

_Qiángbì grinned, liquid-seeming metal swirling around him like a cloak, and said, "Nanomachines, Sun. That's how."_

+AA+

If some crazy earthbender could do that, then I should be able to top that feat. After all, the Avatar was supposed to be the greatest bender of them all so it made sense that I'd be able to accomplish something much better than that if I had the right tools, which meant I needed to do research. If the Avatar was supposed to save the world, which is what they all said, then that meant I needed to become as good as possible to defeat things like the Endbringers.

Unfortunately that meant I spent more time studying physics and biology than actually using the majority of my powers. At least I'd figured out how to unlock simple locks without touching them. It was a neat trick, even if it wasn't particularly useful to me.

My current project was to study biology enough that I could hopefully find a way to heal large groups of people. I had settled on trying to combine waterbending with biokinesis to remotely heal or stun people, but even though Claire was happy to help with that, I still had trouble getting waterbending to work how I wanted.

I was there at the library to pick up two college level textbooks on cellular and molecular biology, and I already had chemistry, physics and mathematics books out to help me understand each of them better. I hoped that a better understanding of the process would help the two powers mesh together like I wanted, but even if it didn't my touch-based biokinesis would be improved by my greater understanding of what my power was telling me.

With this in mind, I walked up to the gaunt, old-looking librarian at the front desk. I'd seen her here several times before.

"Hello again, Amy," she said in greeting. "Here to pick up some more books?"

"Yes, thank you," I replied as I walked up to where she sat.

"Alright, let me go get them then," she said before standing up to walk over to the shelves where the books on hold were kept.

Victoria walked up behind me. "Alright Ames, while you're waiting here for your books I'm going to go find this book I saw recommended on PHO for my book report."

"Okay, I'll be getting one for class too so I'll just wait here," I told her.

She smiled brilliantly, nodded and cheerfully said, "Okay, it'll only be a minute so don't wander off!" before jogging off towards one of the staircases. I didn't know had book it was she wanted, but since it was PHO, she was probably going to the young adult section.

It was for a book report on books that were or had been banned, and I had already picked one, _Grapes of Wrath_, and it was on hold along with the two biology books I was picking up today.

After about a minute of waiting, the librarian brought back the books which I then checked out. Just as I was putting them in a bag I had brought with me specifically to carry, Victoria came back and walked over to the desk.

"Hi, do you have _Double Life_ by Simone Feather?" she asked the librarian.

"Hm, did you check the literature section under W?" the librarian asked.

"Yeah, but it wasn't there."

The librarian nodded and check on her computer before turning back to Victoria with a frown. "Sorry, but all of our copies have been taken out. Do you want to be put on the waiting list?"

Victoria frowned and sighed. "No, I needed it for a book report but if it isn't here I won't get it in time to read it."

The librarian nodded sympathetically. "I'm sorry to hear that, but it could still become available in time."

"Yeah, okay." She turned to me, "Well, we should probably get going. I can find another book later."

I nodded and we started out.

I was quiet as we exited and Victoria took hold of me so we could fly to Arcadia High School.

After we lifted off and were in the air, I asked her, "So, uh, why did you want that book?"

"Well, I was looking on PHO for interesting books and one of the posters, Winged One or something like that, suggested it, saying that it was a well written book about cape life and romance."

I couldn't really find any words to say.

"But what made me interested," she continued, "were the responses. One of them said it was 'the most uncomfortable book I've ever read,' another person said they were embarrassed to be seen with the book and a third said it was a 'skeevy slash fiction,' not literature. There was also someone else who said that the author barely avoided a Simurgh quarantine when he was writing the book, so it was probably ghost written by the Simurgh. The discussion derailed after that but I was pretty curious since the description didn't really seem 'skeevy' or anything like that to me, just some story about two sisters who go out as superheroes and their adventures." She sighed as we flew over an intersection. "Since it's not at the library I guess I'll have to pick something else, shouldn't be too hard."

We flew in silence for almost a minute before I finally decided to speak. "Oh…well, um, if you were still interested I...have a copy," that had been personally signed for me by the author when he visited the city about three months ago.

Victoria paused in midair. "What, really?"

I looked up at her. "Uh, yeah, I got it a few months ago when Ms. Feather – the author – came to town… She signed it and everything."

"And you're willing to lend me your signed copy? You're the best sister ever Ames!" she cried out as she squeezed me tightly for a moment. "Thanks, now I don't have to look for something else to read!"

"You're welcome, just…it's a signed copy, so don't tear it or light it on fire, okay?" I asked, trying, and failing, to joke.

Vicky laughed. "Sure thing Ames! Now let's get to school!" And with that she took off again towards Arcadia.

As its large H shape came into sight, she asked, "So, since you've read the book, is it really as bad as they said? Well, if you got a signed copy you must have liked it."

"Um…" I said, trying to buy time to think of an answer, "…yes…I-I thought it was very interesting and well written character study."

"And what about the romance? I remember that being mentioned in the thread," she said as we neared the ground.

"…um…it was…interesting?"

"That bad?"

"No! ...um…it was just ah…unusual," I said as my feet touched the ground, already regretting this.

"Okay…" Victoria said skeptically, before seeing her boyfriend Dean standing with some friends one of the trees. Normally I wasn't too happy to see him, but this time I was relieved to have a distraction from this conversation.

"Anyway, I shouldn't spoil it for you. I'll get it to you later. Bye!" I tell her as a slip away and into the crowd of students arriving for school.

+AA+

A/N: To answer the most important question first: Yes, in this world the Simurgh does ghost write trashy romance novels and contact her publisher over the internet to send drafts and stuff. JK, that's totally not what's happening, I swear. You can trust me. For real.

She may or may not write fanfiction though.

I kept the past lives out of this chapter for the most part, what did you think of that? The flashback was in there because it kind of slipped away from me there, I hope it works.

Also, the book does have a larger story purpose, relevant to its plot I've implied.

These chapters have been largely slice of life for Amy so far, but afterwards she will/would drop by her lair and probably go out as her alter-alter ego with its bio-armor, whatever that cape name would be.


	3. Aria 1-3

**Aria 1.3**

I managed to avoid Victoria until lunch, which was especially easy with how fast and agile I could be as an airbender. The bigger concern was Dean Stansfield, Victoria's boyfriend. He was a Protectorate Ward, Gallant, a government superhero and his power was to sense emotions and to send out emotion blasts. Normally I avoided him because he was Victoria's boyfriend, but today I wanted to avoid him because of the book, and if he sensed the wrong thing and put the pieces together, everything would be ruined and Victoria would hate me. I couldn't let that happen, which was a problem because Dean liked to poke and prod and 'fix' people so that everyone got along. If he saw something unusual or strange he wouldn't let it go, he'd try to find out what was happening so he could 'solve' the problem.

I didn't need to deal with him trying to fix me; I'd already dealt with it once before about a year ago when he saw how uncomfortable I was around him and Victoria when they were together. He had kept trying to get me alone to talk, but the thing about an airbender is that they excel at escaping and avoiding problems. After weeks of this he'd managed to rope in the entire Wards roster, Vicky and even Crystal but I'd managed to slip out their traps, even when Dennis, the Ward Clockblocker, managed to catch me with a timestop touch of his. It helped that I'd been practicing meditation so I could muffle my emotions and center myself. Both Han and Rai had been helpful in teaching me how to do so, especially in ways to fool mind readers, or in this case emotion readers.

In the end I convinced them that I just didn't like Dean, which was true after a month of constantly trying to escape him.

Luckily it seemed the uneasy truce we'd reached of mutual avoidance still held, not that there was any reason for him to seek me out.

By taking my time in the hallways towards the outdoor seating, I was able to avoid getting dragged into Victoria's group. It wasn't that I minded sitting next to her, just the opposite, but I couldn't take the chance of Dean sensing the wrong thing or Victoria starting an awkward conversation about the book. In fact, both of them were likely to happen around the same time given the fact the Dean was currently her boyfriend.

All in all, it was better to just avoid Victoria. I'd been doing that more and more often these past few months. I had a deadline and I couldn't afford distractions until I'd mastered the Avatar State. Not after Behemoth's last attack, and not with the Simurgh waiting in the wings.

It was cold in the late January weather, but I took a seat underneath a tree and well away from everyone else. I took out my lunch and began practicing a subtle firebending trick to spread heat around myself without making it obvious I was using a power. It kept my fingers from freezing in the surprisingly harsh New England winter and if I concentrated could heat my food up pleasantly. This wasn't a trick I could do with other people sitting next to me, so it was another reason to sit on my own. I had plenty of those, actually.

I ate my lunch quickly and then settled into a seiza position and in order to begin meditating. The goal was to let go of my connections to the world around me, become at peace with myself and the world around me so that I could let go of what held me apart from my past lives and their power. While I could hear their voices, I didn't have their accumulated power, skill or experience, and without that, how could I hope to match the Endbringers?

We already had a possible solution to them, waterbending spiritual purification, but we weren't likely to be able to use it against the Endbringers unless I could enter the Avatar State. Not only that, but just being in the Avatar State would allow me to do so much more for the people in the attacked cities.

So I learned and practiced what I could, and I meditated to try and release my chakras.

I closed my eyes and slowly breathed it.

_'Your mind is like a city, life clogs it up so you must either clear those blockages or find a way around them,'_ Rai said.

_'While putting up roadblocks around the blockages, right Rai?'_ Han added.

_'Not the time Han,'_ Korra scolded before speaking to me. _'Amelia, you need to learn to accept those parts of you that you don't like, it's what you need to do in order to succeed as an Avatar. For my predecessor Aang, a pacifist, it was his anger that he needed to accept, for me it was my fears of weakness that I needed to accept when Amon blocked my bending… I needed to embrace my own weakness because I held too tightly to my own strength that I couldn't easily atune myself to the spiritual nature of the Avatar.'_

_'This talk? For me it was my drive to fix things, my shame at how they all fell apart. I looked at Korra's failures and tried to do better, to set the world right, but for all our power, we Avatars are still human. Though I still did better than you, Korra.'_

_'Says the guy who deliberately got himself killed.'_

_'That was a no-win situation, and if there had been more lives intact I could have won that fight or any of the fights with her before that,'_

_'Fine, fine, anyway we're getting off topic,'_ Korra said.

This led to an important question however: _'If he couldn't win in the Avatar State, what chance do I have?'_

_'You have two extra lives and a Shard to lend you their ability,'_ Han said, _'And there's the fact that she was careful to only ever send duplicates and proxies after me, even if those were usually tough enough on their own, let alone by the dozen. And the reason I couldn't succeed in the Avatar state at that point was mostly because of my own arrogance, and admittedly bitterness. I thought myself her better until she had me thoroughly outmaneuvered because of the people I alienated, and I still almost won without resorting to my backup plan.'_

_'What was your backup plan?'_ I asked, they didn't really talk much about the later years of Han's life or the early parts of Rai's.

_'It was me,'_ Rai explained before giggling…or at least it sounded like Rai, but younger and saccharine sweet. Then she added in her normal voice, _'It succeeded, eventually.'_

_'Rai? What happened with your voice there?'_ I asked.

_'It's an old problem that Rai never fully addressed,'_ Korra explained, _'but it's not important at the moment. You should focus instead on how to move past your current issues and release your chakras.'_

_'We've already done this a dozen or more times,'_ Han said. _'I think the tried and true method of life-threatening danger would be better, I'm sure there are some Nazi capes that wouldn't mind a friendly spar.'_

_'This sounds like it'd be much more interesting than just sitting around,'_ Claire added.

_'Yeah, I'll just go find Kaiser and tell him where he can shove his blades,'_ I thought at them sarcastically.

_'Yes! That would be awesome, do it Amelia!'_ Claire cried out, always enthusiastic about me using my powers and getting into fights.

_'You could use the practice,'_ Rai agreed.

+AA+

_"Don't worry," I said, smirking. "I'll play nice when she comes."_

_He scoffed and adjusted his grip on the spirt energy-powered sword. "I'm not the one who needs to worry." He barred his teeth. "My daughter and my coworkers know this already, and you should too. **I never lose.**" With that he clenched his hands on the sword and lunged at me, moving faster than I'd have though possible for a non-airbender. It had to have something to do with his armor and the glowing lines on it._

_I dodged back, surprised but not shaken or scared. "I was about to say the same thing." I slipped away from another blow. "You'll need to faster than that, Doctor!"_

_Suddenly the sword split in two and he took one in each hand. I lunged forward, sending blasts of fire at him. Even with his armor and whatever it was doing, I was still faster, stronger, tougher._

_The blue fires consumed the room and covering everything, including him. Their force shook the mansion. I grinned and started to speak, "Is–"_

_Then he burst through the flames and swept his swords to cut my face from opposite directions. The entire left side of my face exploded with pain and I reeled back and I could feel blood, my blood, coming down freely. My vision was hazy and I realized that I could only see with one eye now, the other had disappeared into the pain._

_Crying out I hit the group, clutching my face._

_"Funny," he said, "I was about to say the same thing."_

+AA+

I felt my head shift, my mind reeling before settling back into place. _'What was that?'_

_'A memory of Rai's,'_ Korra said.

_'Of when I lost my eye,'_ Rai elaborated.

_'She got a new one eventually,'_ Han added. _'And it was a cool robot one too, but before that she got to wear an eye patch.'_

_'He got to wear two when he blinded himself,'_ Korra remarked.

_'It allowed me to learn how to see with my bending, so I'd say it was worth it,'_ Han replied.

_'That doesn't make what you did any less stupid.'_

_'Oh, you're going to criticize me for bad decision making? Does that make Rai the pan, Claire the baking sheet and Amy colander?'_

_'This isn't helping,'_ I interrupted before they could start another argument. Having voices in your head was one thing, having them bicker was another.

_'She's right,'_ Rai agreed. _'We need a better plan for getting her the help she needs because it is clear that we can't help her.'_

Han grumbled and Korra sighed.

_'You're right Rai,'_ Korra said. _'__It looks like we'll have to o with our other plan.'_

I suppressed a frown, not to hide it from my past lives, but to keep anyone watching from wondering. _'What other plan?'_

She sighed again. _'Years and years after Convergence, Jinora and I figured out a way to create our own short lasting spirit portals through airbending. It let us physically travel between spiritual places using the Spirit World itself. I had hoped that the Avatar State would be easier to attain, but with the pressure we're under and the trouble you've been having, even though that's been at least partly our fault, it might be necessary to try something else.'_

This time I did frown. _'And how exactly is entering the Spirit World supposed to help with defeating the Simurgh?'_ I asked.

_'Our Spirit World could a dangerous place, and it is certain that this world's will be much worse with the presence of the shards,'_ Rai said over Claire's protestations that shards weren't so bad. _'However, there will be a Light spirit like Raava who could help us, and it is probably the only place where we can find an effective counter to the Simurgh's precognition.'_

_'What's that, and why haven't you told me this already?'_ I demanded.

_'We didn't want to give you too much information at once, and you have enough on your plate already,'_ Korra explained. _'Once you could access the Avatar State you wouldn't need to worry about entering the Spirit World, but since the Spirit World reflects and is reflected by the physical world we can be certain that it will be dangerous and we didn't want to put you in unnecessary jeopardy.'_

_'And you're telling me now because you don't think I can enter the Avatar State?'_ I snapped.

_'You're the Avatar, so of course you can enter,'_ Korra supplicated,_ 'but what we've been trying hasn't been working and likely won't so we need to do something else while we still have a chance.'_

I slowly inhaled and exhaled while they waited for me to answer. _'Fine. Let's do it.'_

_'We'll need to find a spiritual place,'_ Han commented. _'Though, that shouldn't be too hard.'_

Before any of the others could respond, I heard Victoria call out to me. "Hey, Ames."

I opened my eyes and turned to look at her. She was coming from inside the school and had left her friends inside except Dean who had seen fit to come outside with her into the winter air and was standing about twenty feet away. He was still close enough to sense my emotions, though I had no doubt he could read them from the other side of the school's doors if he wanted too. I couldn't completely calm myself, so I followed a technique the Han had shared with me and focused on a single emotion, specifically my annoyance and anger at Dean, his presence and his being Victoria's boyfriend. Actually not that last one, definitely not that. I had other reasons not to like him so I focused on those.

He looked away before glancing at Victoria, who nodded, and heading back inside.

When I saw him leaving I looked around at the rest of the school grounds, but didn't see anyone else.

Victoria stopped several feet from me and I realized that I hadn't replied to her greeting. "Hi, Vicky, what are you doing out here?" I winced as I realized how that had to sound.

"I could ask the same thing," she replied as she stood there uncertainly, but not awkwardly. She was never awkward.

"I just wanted some space," I said.

She sighed and sat down next to me, her back to the tree and her shoulder against mine. "Ames… It's not your fault; you need to stop blaming yourself for what happened. It was Behemoth and you did the best you could, we all did."

I looked down at the ground. I couldn't say it, but I was the Avatar and I was supposed to be able to stop things like him. "I spent most of the fight unconscious while people died. How is that the best I could do?" I was supposed to save them.

Victoria shifted position and hugged me tightly with her enhanced strength. "It's not you fault."

I let out a shacky sigh and shook my head but before I could do anything else she held my head in her hands and I felt a rush as her body came into focus with my power. She rested her forehead against mine and I slipped my arms around her but underneath her jacket, I needed to keep them warm somehow and I couldn't use my heating firebending without someone potentially noticing. And that was the only reason.

"You can't be blamed for a building falling on you Ames," Vicky continued.

"I know," I whisper.

"Then don't go beating yourself up over it. You're my sister and I'm not about to let you tear yourself apart over something that you had no control over. You were lucky to make it out of there…if something had happened to you or Dad or Mom…" She held me tighter and I shifted closer to her. Our lips almost ended up touching as mine brushed against her cheek.

"I won't let that happen, Vicky" I promised her.

"I know, Ames," Vicky said. "Before I got my powers, you were always the one heroic one, going out and fighting crime." She turned to me and I couldn't help but notice how our breath mingled. "Whenever I was down you were the one to try to cheer me up, when I let my anger get the better of me you were the one who helped me restrain myself, so please let me return the favor."

She was right, even if she never knew the truth, or at least the whole truth. "Okay…"

She smiled brilliantly, even if it was somewhat subdued. "Good, because we're going to spend the day together after school, just the two of us, and you're going to have fun, got it?"

I wanted to say yes, but at the same time I needed to go into the Spirit World.

_'Say yes, if you two travel around it'll give us a chance to get a feel for where to go,'_ Korra said.

_'And the Spirit World is romantic this time of year,'_ Han supplied, _'Hint, hint.'_

Blushing, I hid my face in her neck before saying yes and she rested her head against mine.

_'Han, Claire, stop it this instant,'_ Korra ordered, to which reluctant and sheepish acknowledgements.

_'Don't worry about it, Amelia,'_ Rai told me, _'It's not important and we can explain later, for now just relax and enjoy yourself. We'll prepare for and enter the Spirit World later.'_

_'Okay,'_ I replied, holding onto Vicky tightly, hoping this would last forever and knowing it wouldn't.

+AA+

A/N: Amy here isn't an impartial narrator. While she's telling the truth as she sees it, hiding her powers from her family and friends for so long has skewed her view of the world.

Also, how do you think I handled some of those scenes? Did I lay it on too thick? Too thin?

Can you guess which animated show or movie Rai is from? Keep in mind that Rai isn't her name in the show but rather what she changes it too after establishing herself as the Avatar and that Han's role in events doesn't necessarily have an analogue in the storyline of that animated series or movie. I will say that she didn't necessarily need cybernetic enhancements to fight Armstrong/ Qiángbì and his nanomachines.

And ask yourselves this: did the Simurgh see the upcoming jaunt into the Spirit World coming or not? Also, if you have any good names for Earth's Light and Dark spirits, let me know.

Can you guess what shows, movies, books and/or video games Korra, Han and Rai lived through?

+AA+


	4. Aria 1-4

_**In response to reviews:**_

**Gremlin Jack: Thanks!**

**Ghest: Well, those names could work but both Raava and Vatu have specific meanings, so I think it'd be appropriate to have the Light and Dark spirits of Earth to have meanings as well, they are pretty important figures in the cosmology of the Spirit World after all.**

_**Aria 1.4**_

Eventually I had to let go of her when the bell rang for the end of the lunch period. I was looking forward to spending some time with Victoria but at the same time I was tense and nervous. I wanted to be with her, and it wasn't likely she'd notice anything, but I didn't have much time. I needed to be ready for the Simurgh, the Endbringer who would in all likelihood attack sometime in the next few weeks.

My past lives tried to reassure me, but the feeling wouldn't fade. I think that Korra was worried too, but was just hiding it. It'd never been good at telling what Rai thought and Han always acted like a jerk. It just changed who he was a jerk too.

That was actually part of the reason I was never concerned about my father's villainous identity as Marquis. After all, if an asshole like him could be a world-renowned hero in his own time, then even I could do it regardless of the morality of my parents.

I'd even see memories where he'd had friends an actually managed to be an inspiring, kind figure. It clashed with how acted as a voice in my mind. It made me wonder what was in those memories of his and Rai's that they were so determined to hide.

Whenever tried to reach out to them to enter the Avatar state, I could feel them holding back parts of themselves. That might be why I had trouble entering the Avatar State, but I wasn't sure. I knew that the way the Avatar worked different now, but there was a great deal that Han and Rai avoided discussing.

I sighed and focused on my work in class. Or at least I tried too. My mind kept drifting to and between everything that was going to happen, and what I wanted to happen.

After what felt like an eternity school ended and I was free to leave. I went to the tree where I had eaten lunch, avoiding the Wards and Dean.

I didn't have to wait long for Victoria to arrive, leaving the others behind. She smiled and hugged me, saying, "Let's go have some fun, okay Amy?"

I hugged her back and let myself smile as I held her. "Let's going."

"Right!" With that she slipped behind me and wrapped her arms around me and we flew off.

+AA+

_I sighed. "Asami…"_

_She turned back to me. "What is it Korra?"_

_"I am kind of in the middle of saving the world," I tell her, my lips quirked._

_She smiled and shrugged. "It is Tuesday, but that doesn't mean we can't have fun."_

+AA+

_'Thanks for the message, Korra,'_ I think to her.

_'No problem,'_ she replied.

_'Don't worry Amelia,'_ Han said, _'If you just follow Korra's example you'll suddenly find yourself bisexual and fall in love with Dean or something.'_

_'I'd rather not,'_ I replied. _'Well, the Dean thing anyway, the rest would probably be an improvement.'_

_'Are you sure you aren't?'_ Rai asked.

_'Well, I suppose there's no way to tell,'_ I mused.

_'You could always look at you brain structure to see what your sexual orientation is,'_ Claire suggested.

I pause. _'Yeah, I could do that. How do I tell though?'_

_'If Raava let me, I could figure that out in a jiffy instead of just talking to you,'_ Claire complained.

_'Yeah, well you're a piece of a world eating monster that was imprinted with a version of your host's personality, so I can see why she did that,'_ Han commented.

Claire harrumphed. _'It's not fair.'_ After a moment she brightened up. _'But at least Amelia's happy to experiment! It's so fun!'_

I smiled slightly. _'It is fun,'_ I added, thinking about the time I managed to make Whiskers, as Claire insisted on naming him, glow. That reminded me that I'd have to feed him back at my base. I could usually just let him wander around the Boat Graveyard, but leaving out food for him and the other strays I'd picked up at my 'secret lair' was still a good idea.

I had made it using my nascent earthbending and 'lifebending' by shifting rock and metal to make the walls and growing some toughened fungus to help keep the water out since parts of the base extended out into the Bay itself in the parts of the Graveyard that was actually in the water, where the remains of ships and quays wasted away. I had only recently completed the series of tunnels under that small section of the Boat Graveyard and I only had a handful of odd and ends there, but the idea was that eventually I could use it as a combination of a base of operations and a workshop to build bending technology and others devices that my past lives knew.

Personally I wanted to build a spirit laser like the one that Rai's friend Cyborg Sun had replaced his right arm with, though I had no intention of replacing any part of my body with one. In addition to that, there was also the gear specifically designed for use by benders, such as the various designs of metalbending armor, of which I had made a crude version already with scrap from around the Graveyard, though it didn't have the grappling cables like the ones that Korra was familiar with. Then there were things like the chi powered shock gloves that Han had dissected or the phoenix flight pack Rai had customized in her life. And all of that was without getting into Han's lifelong project; a giant spirit powered bending mecha he used to fight monsters.

It wasn't something that was likely to happen for a long while, but it was something I could look forward to at least.

+AA+

Eventually we landed at the mall and Vicky immediately dragged us into a clothing store. I wasn't exactly a fashion connoisseur, especially with the largely unhelpful advice of my past lives, but only Korra had actually cared about fashion and while she had an eye for colors, though her preference of blues, whites and clothes reminiscent of the Water Tribe meant she sometimes selected clothing that didn't exactly fit in.

I didn't spend much time shopping as opposed to training in bending and taking down thugs, so I tended to focus on a utilitarian wardrobe, especially since none of my past lives liked wearing anything restrictive enough to be a problem in a fight. Korra had once told me that if I ever did wear something impractical like a ballroom dress, it was practically guaranteed that as the Avatar I would end up in a fight while doing so.

Victoria however believed no such thing, and encouraged me to try out many different outfits, such as skirts and blouses of various fashions. After changing into a short green skirt and a tan blouse I looked in the mirror inside the changing room.

_'I approve,'_ said Han.

_'Of course you would,'_ I replied before leaving the changing room and seeing one of the reasons I most liked shopping with Victoria.

Victoria smiled brilliantly, before saying "Nice, but maybe we should pick something that brings out your eyes more."

I nodded as I looked at her. She was wearing a ridged black dress that hugged her body, emphasizing her already generous curves. When Korra cleared her throat, I managed to say, "I like yours."

She twirled around in her dress, smiling. "Thanks, I like it too! Too bad it's a bit expensive…"

"I'll go change into something else," I tell her as turn around and head back into the changing room. As much as she like the dress and I like seeing her wearing it, she wasn't likely to buy it without her rich boyfriend Dean nearby to pay for it. I was both annoyed at being reminded of him and pleased that he wasn't here.

_'Try the red shirt,'_ Rai suggested. I looked at it. The shirt was a bright, cheery red with short sleeves and a gold-colored spiral design on its chest.

I put it and a pair of black slacks on to try out. The shirt was a bit loose in places, but overall it looked good. I wore it out for Victoria to look at. I knew that it didn't actually bring out my eyes, but I thought that it still looked good and Victoria agreed.

We continued in that vein for about an hour before leaving the store with bags of new clothes and grins on our faces. The food court was our next destination where we bought some Chinese food and found a table to sit and eat at.

As I opened the Styrofoam box that they had put my food in, I sighed happily. This was much nicer than the double dates that Victoria occasionally tried to set me up with, though like with Dean I managed to escape those, even it Vicky did occasionally chase me across the city over it. That was much more fun than the date itself, by airbending versus her flight.

Sometimes she managed to catch me and sometimes I managed to escape, though whenever I lost Han would complain about me letting Vicky win because I was attracted to her. But for all of his snide comments, he was able to give good advice on how to best use my airdbending and some subtle earthbending to best escape pursuit.

Even if she was faster in flight, I was much more agile and I was usually able to dodge her attempts to grapple. By the time one of us won, the date was forgotten and we were having too much fun.

However, just hanging out with Vicky at the mall was something I enjoyed a great deal as well.

As we ate we talked about everyday things like friends and recent news. As far as it went, I enjoyed her presence more than what we discussed. I had been paying less attention to those sorts of things ever since I had started preparing for my confrontations with the Endbringers. I was after all perhaps one of the few people who stood a chance of permanently ending their threat. Compared to that, a dead social life was nothing.

However, as Korra reminded me, it was important to take breaks like this one every so often.

Eventually some of Victoria's friends from school showed up and entered the conversation, I would have preferred to spend the time alone, but I didn't mind all that much as my mind had started drifting back places to look.

_'Hmmm, you know…it is theoretically possible to do the transition anywhere, its just that if you're not careful you'll end up in some rather dangerous places,'_ Han commented eventually.

_'Luckily that isn't an issue,'_ Korra replied. _'Amelia doesn't have the spiritual attunement to manage that. We'll need to find a location that is inherently spiritual to make the transition easier.'_

_'A church or temple should work,'_ Rai suggested._ 'The Boat Graveyard itself also seems to have some spiritual energies inherent to it, so we could potentially find somewhere there that would work.'_

_'If the spirit world is as dangerous as you all say, then I don't want to find out what kind of place the Boat Graveyard would send me to,'_ I told her.

_'Understandable, but we should find out eventually in case an emergency arises,'_ Rai replied.

_'But it can wait a while,'_ Korra said.

_'I hope we go there soon,'_ Claire said, _'I want to see what we can us my power to make with spirits!'_

_'Again, it can wait,'_ Korra repeated.

_'Yeah, we have time, it's not like the Simurgh is going to just drop in on us out of nowhere,'_ Han said.

The others were silent for a long, tense moment, before Korra spoke up. _'That's why you died like an idiot, you should know better than to say things like that when you're the Avatar.'_

_'Please, nothing happened, I mean it's incredibly unlikely she'd show up,'_ Han replied.

_'I agree with Korra,'_ Rai said.

_'So do I,'_ I added.

_'I want to see you fight her!'_ Claire exclaimed.

_'I don't,'_ I replied.

_'Let's all just stop tempting fate, okay?'_ Korra requested.

_'Fine, fine,'_ Han replied, relenting.

_'Good, now let's just put this behind us and Amelia you should focus on the conversation, it looks like Victoria's getting ready to go,'_ Korra said.

I tuned back in to what was going on around me and realized that Victoria was indeed getting up.

"Ready to go?" she asked.

"Yeah," I told her and I stood and picked up my trash. We threw away the waste and picked up our bags to carry them out. With her strength Victoria could have carried them all on her own, but I wanted to be considerate.

After saying good bye to Victoria's friends we left for the main entrance of the mall and as we went I started to hum a tune that was going through my head. It was a sharp, weaving tune that rose and fell abruptly with a buzzing undercurrent. I wasn't able to pull it off all that well.

_'What are you humming?'_ Rai asked.

_'I'm not exactly sure,'_ I replied.

_'And why is that guy over there also humming it in time with you?'_ Korra asked.

I paused and looked at the slightly overweight man walking towards me a short distance ahead while he held a coffee cup and hummed the wordless song that even now went through my head in time with what him, so much clearer than his attempts.

_'Oh shit,'_ Han and I thought at the same time.

A forlorn wail of the damned suddenly cut through the air and everyone froze for an instant.

_'I blame you, Han,'_ Korra stated.

+AA+

A/N: This whole pseudo-incest thing is going to need to go at some point. I will now be opening a poll for serious or joke ship requests. Do you want to see something happen between Dragon and Amy? I can try that. Have you ever wanted to see a Shatterbird/Amy moment? That probably won't happen, but I can try. How about Rune and Amy? That could work, though I imagine it's something most would Nazi coming.

For the curious, I'll say it now: towards the end of her teenage years Rai joined a special independent team who resided on an island base which had a skyscraper in the shape of a vertical line intersecting a perpendicular horizontal line. This was to signify their dynamic nature and help fit in the airship dock. There were four other major members of the group besides her and Cyborg Sun, though one of those, an earthbender, betrayed the others at one point.

Also, can you guess what Amy's going to be looking for in the Spirit World soon?

**Edit: This is a call to all who know good music for boss fights: I am looking for music to fit the upcoming fight with the Simurgh. If you have any suggestions, please let me know in a message or review. This will be a multistage event, so a wide variety of music could potentially fit. Thank you, everyone!**

+AA+


	5. Aria 1-5 Rewrite

**Reply to Ghest (Pre-change): **Well, it could work as nicknames, I just think that they aren't names that the spirits would _choose_ to go by, since they aren't very symbolic of the concepts they embody or sound like serious names. I might go with them anyway.

**After My Decision to Rewrite:**

**Reply to Ghest:** That's part of the reason for the change.

**Reply toDragon Draconis:** I don't like it either. I hope my rewrite is better.

**_Note to all readers:_** Here is the new version of the chapter. The old one has been discarded, but if anyone wants to look at it, you can check out my threads on either Space Battles or Sufficient Velocity. My profile name is the same on both. I hope you all like this version better.

_**Aria 1.5**_

A/N: Alright everyone, sorry for the piece of garbage that was the last version of this chapter. Let me know what you think of this one, I'll be more than happy to make any necessary improvements if there are glaring problems.

+AA+

The Simurgh was here in Brockton Bay, I was out of time to prepare. I reached to the back of my belt and pulled by compacted glider staff, snapping it open with a flick. I have a glider suit as part of my costume, but the staff is useful because I can use it to help shape, direct and magnify my airbending by using it like a fan or a club. It was a useful tool that I had fought Carol to get, and it made me feel like the airbender heroes that Korra told me about.

Now however it would be of only limited help. I launch myself up into the air and towards the exit of the mall. The people all around were already panicking and crowding towards the glass doors. __'Where can I make a transition?'_ _I ask my past lives. I needed to go get whatever they thought could work, and I needed to do so __now__.

__'Find somewhere away from the Simurgh,'__ Korra told me_. _'With Raava's help you should be able to find them wherever you end up. It just takes a moment of meditation and airbending to make the transition.'__

"Ames, wait up!" Vicky cried out as she flew after me.

I spare her a glance as I fly towards the doors. "I'm going to help with the evacuation, I'll be fine! Meet up with the others!" With a burst of airbending I flung myself at the closed glass doors and broke them with a hurricane force gust of wind amplified by my glider staff. I then shifted my grip on the glider staff so that I was properly gliding on it and flew through the doors, using a kick of airbending to sweep the glass aside with me.

__'A temple or something like that should help,'_ _Han commented before we both stopped.

He had good reason, because coming down from the sky was the winged form of the monster I dreaded facing most. Her smooth alabaster skin and numerous asymmetric wings shone in the sunlight as she flew with sinister grace. It was the Simurgh, arguably the worst of the Endbringers. Her telekinesis, telepathy and precognition made her a nightmare to fight, and forced every city she attacked to be placed under quarantine, and anyone who spent too long hearing her song either had to be contained there or killed because otherwise they became tools for her plots to sew destruction and chaos. At least the other ones had the 'decency' to only kill. They didn't turn friends and family against each other just because they could. And she was here, over my city, coming right for me.

_'Keep moving!'_ Korra barked. _'And find water, now!'_

I jerked into motion, kicking myself backward on a blast of air before turning to Victoria, who had just begun to come out. "She's coming this way!"

"Shit!" Victoria cussed.

I focused on the panicking crowd that I was beginning to fly above. I shouted out, using airbending to amplify my voice, "Everyone, the Simurgh is attacking the city! Evacuate immediately through other exits!"

"Get them out of here, I'll distract her!" Victoria called after me. A cold hand gripped my heart and I turned to look back at her, but she was already gone from the doorway and in the air over the parking lot, flying towards where the Simurgh was dismantling an office building, apparently unconcerned by our presence.

_'Don't waste time, keep going if you want to help her,'_ Rai said. _'We need to find a bathroom so we can acquire enough water.'_

_'There's one over there,'_ I said, spotting the side hallway that led to the restrooms. I glided in and landed quickly collapsing my glider wings back into the staff. People were terrified and I was worried that a stampede or a riot was developing, but I couldn't afford to be distracted by that. If I didn't at least try something, a lot more people would die, or maybe even worse.

Ignoring the shouting I burst into the women's restroom and quickly turn on all of the faucets, letting the water stream out where I could bend it more easily. There was a woman standing next to the towel dispenser and looking at me in confusion as I did this, and her confusion only grew when I started waterbending. With flowing movements I gathered a large sphere of water next to me. The Simurgh, like all of the Endbringers, was large. Holding the sphere in place, I closed my eyes and used my other hand to rip the plumbing pipes of the toilets out of their mooring so that their own water began spraying out inside their stalls. I had to do this one at a time, but it greatly sped up the rate at which I was able to gather water. After about a minute I had a sphere about twice as wide as I was tall. It touched the ceiling and was surrounded by dampness on the floor. Hopefully it was enough water, but spending a minute gathering it may have been a minute too long.

I sweep towards the bathroom's exit, pull all of the water I can with me and knocking the door open with a bang. Seeing the crowd still struggling to get away, and push and pull the torrent of water around me so that it carries me up onto the wall around a small crowd of people.

Seeing me surrounded by flowing water, many of them cry out, but I pay no attention. I can't afford to. Instead I push and pull on the water around me even harder, my own personal torrent of water dragging me along as it streaked down to the floor and across the mall towards the exit. I crossed the about thirty feet in seconds, but I still felt that was too long in my race against time.

+AA+

Outside Crystal and Eric, both out of costume, were already firing laser blasts at the Simurgh while Glory Girl dodged and wove through the field of flying debris whirling around the monster. They weren't doing much good, but at least the Simurgh wasn't doing anything else besides almost idly chucking rubble and cars at Shielder.

_'What's she playing at?'_ Han asked.

_'We don't have time to find out,'_ Korra said. _'Amelia, focus on the purification, we'll pay attention to everything else and see if we can figure out what she's trying to do.'_

I nod and sweep across the parking lot. As I approached, Sarah, Lady Photon, attacked from above and behind the Simurgh, sending several attacks right through her defenses. Shielder and Laserdream both flew higher as well, trying to pin her in between the three of them and Glory Girl. It seemed to be working, with the Simurhg gradually floating lower.

_'I'm getting a bad feeling about this,'_ I think to my past lives.

_'Me too,'_ Korra agreed.

_'I am as well, but our options are limited,'_ Rai added.

I grit my teeth and kept going as fast as I could towards the Simurgh. When I was halfway there, Glory Girl, practically shining with magnificence, backed out of the storm of debris around the Simrugh and looked at me. I saw Victoria open her eyes wide in surprise, but before she could say anything a large green van slammed into her, sending them both towards the ground. I let go of my waterbending and staggered to a stop as I used what basic metalbending that Korra had been able to teach me to shift the van off and away from Victoria so that she didn't have to worry about it.

Thankfully she recovered before she hit the ground, but unfortunately she immediately made her way to me. We couldn't waste time with explanations, so I waved her off and shouted, "Later! I need you to distract the Simurgh!" With that I gathered the water around me again and continued my charge towards where she now floated about ten feet above the street outside the mall's parking lot.

As I began to clear the last third of the parking lot, the Simurgh turned her attention to me, telekinetically picking up a car that was still parked near me and launching it at me. Using the water gathered around me I launched myself into the air over the car as it flew through where I had just been. I landed on the top of the car as it flew by and rolled off, focusing on keeping as much water gathered as possible, and trying to keep it from spraying across the parking lot in the wake of the car.

Suddenly I heard a crash from behind me, and felt as much as saw glass spray all around me. Spinning around I saw that the Simurgh had launched another car at me, but this one had been blocked by Victoria.

When the car settled on the ground, Victoria turned on me and demanded, "What are you doing!? Your power can't help fight her, you need to get away! And since when could you control water!?"

"I'll explain later, but I think I might have something which could distract her or hold her in place," I told her, "and it requires this water, but I can't do it if she keeps throwing things at me."

Victoria looked at me for a moment, clearly torn by her questions and the battle, before she nodded. "If you think it will work, I'll keep her off you. But if it doesn't I want you to get out of here immediately, and when this is all over you're explaining __everything__."

I swallowed. "Okay."

Victoria nodded and flew a short distance into the air to better guard me. I gathered my water yet again and resumed my waterborne charge.

_'Look on the bright side, if this doesn't work, you'll probably be too dead to have to explain anything,'_ Han snarked.

_'Is this really the time?'_ Rai asked before crying out, _'Duck!'_

I flattened myself to the ground as a car hit Victoria and a lamppost flew through where my head had been. I leapt back to my feet and continued forwards. It looked like I was nearing the edge of the field of debris and random objects orbiting the Simurgh, who it looked like had drifted slightly closer to the ground in the meantime.

_'I've found that there's always time for a little black humor,'_ Han replied. _'Amy, water cooler three meters up and to your left!'_

I glanced at it, and then grasped the water inside using waterbending. Pulling on it, I brought the entire water cooler smashing into the ground with enough force to break it apart, and I quickly added its water to my existing supply.

Before continuing this time, I took a moment to look ahead. There were already dozens of objects ranging from office chairs, to chunks of sidewalk, to cars orbiting the Simurgh, and judging from the flashes of light and sound on the far side of the slow-motion tornado, the rest of New Wave was here and fighting. I heard a thunderclap and saw a flash of light, before turning my head to see that Dauntless and Kid Win were in the air bombarding her, Kid Win using his laser pistols from on top of his hover board, and Dauntless using his spear to throw lightning bolts at her. It looked like most of their shots were blocked by debris, but some got through. I even saw a flare of bright white light flying in the distance behind them, likely Purity, though she didn't seem to be heading towards the fight. Maybe she was trying to get to someone, I wasn't sure.

I was then knocked out of my analysis by a free floating stop sign. I ducked and glared at it. It briefly stopped its orbit and hung in place for a second.

_'Is she – '_ Han started to ask, before the stop sign rocketed back at me and I rolled underneath it before grabbing it with metalbending and embedding it in the asphalt. I followed by kipping to my feet, my water helping push me up, and ran into telekinetic storm as the Simrugh's song rang in my ears.

Objects flew all around me, making it hard to move forwards, but using my gathered water I managed to maintain momentum by using it to flow around the obstacles that the Simurgh threw in my path. As I slipped under another car I started hearing regular thumps like that of a cannon. I had to pause for a moment and swipe a torn piece of concrete out of my way as Victoria manhandled the same van that had nearly knocked her into the ground earlier. Then it came to me, those where the sounds of the Howitzer that I remember Miss Militia had used in the Behemoth fight before I had been knocked out. She must have arrived with more of the Protectorate. I hoped they managed to get Clockblocker to the Simurgh, that would be a huge help, but with her telekinesis and his own vulnerability it would be too likely for her to stop him somehow unless they sent in mass support.

Once my bending had knocked open a wide enough gap, I dived through, pulling my water behind me. I immediately had to whip my water around me in order to deflect a road sign that the SImurgh sent spearing at me.

Holding it to the ground with my water, I stamped down on the ground and forced the sign to sink intothe asphalt. Hopefully it would keep her from using it for a while at least. The less debris she had to use the better.

Before I could continue forward, Victoria flew down next to me and knocked away a car's bumper.

"How much closer?" she asked as blasts started to increase in volume and frequency.

We were about fifteen feet from the ground under the Simrugh now, and she still hadn't moved. I had a bad feeling about this, but I had no choice. This was perhaps the only permanent solution to the Endbringers that existed, and whatever the reason for the Simrugh to allow herself to get cornered like this, I had to take the chance. "This should be close enough for it to work. Keep her off me, while I'm doing this I won't be able to focus on anything else."

With that I send my water swirling up around the SImurgh's floating feet. As the water started to separate into separate strands, her scream redoubled in intensity, causing me to wince and nearly drop the water, but I managed to keep it together and continue.

I kept my eyes closed, focusing on my waterbending and the meditative state that I needed in order to channel the spiritual purification. I tuned out the sounds around me, the regular thunks of Victoria blocking some incoming project, the explosions, hisses and hums of parahuman attacks, the cries and shouted commands of fighting, and through it all the painfully loud scream in the back of my mind. Slowly I managed to work the streams of water up and around her legs. I wasn't sure why she hadn't moved at all, but Korra and Rai's memories of using the power on people merged with spirits and the like showed that the ritual had an immobilizing effect on the target, so it made at least some sense. I still didn't like how this felt like a trap though.

When the water reached what I assumed was her waist, though I couldn't be certain with my eyes closed, the intensity of both the battle and the song dipped. And then I started to heard impacts and the ground began to shake slightly from things hitting it. I wasn't sure what was going on, but I couldn't afford to look so I continued.

I heard murmuring and raised voices, but did my best to ignore them. I did hear Victoria exclaim "Its working!" However, I couldn't afford to pay her enough attention to respond, and instead continued. The blasts picked up as I continued to send the streams up and around her, but the Simurgh's scream continued to die as she limply hung in the air. Luckily most of the blasts avoided my water, so I didn't have to waste time rebuilding the streams.

Even with her scream apparently dying in intensity, I my head still hurt, and I realized that I could taste copper in my mouth. It was enough to make me slightly hesitate, even if for only a moment. In that time, I heard the Simurgh's scream suddenly gain strength and before I could do anything I heard Victoria cry out before I heard a sickening crunch of impact.

But she had her force field, so was fine, she had to be. So, I continued on with the purification and as I moved the streams of water further up the Simurhg's body her scream began to die again. Slowly, her song disappeared from my head. By the time I was three quarters of the way up her body, I couldn't hear it as anything more than a quiet, distant hum. I felt a surge of elation that it was apparently working, and allowed myself a smile as I continued.

In the background, the attacks continued, but tense murmuring in the background rose in volume. They were probably the result of new arrivals for the fight, though I wasn't sure what they were waiting for. I was just glad they weren't disrupting my purification.

Eventually I reached above the Simurgh's head, and held in there a moment. I had been able to do the last step the most easily, but this part was the one I'd had almost as much trouble with as my attempts at entering the Spirit World through meditation. I slowly drew in a breath as silence descended upon the city. Well, not exactly silence, I could still hear the sirens, but everyone here, however many that was, were all waiting.

_'You can do it,'_ Korra assured me.

_'Life and death situations tend to be when we perform the best,'_ Rai added.

_'Just don't get stage fright and everything will be okay,'_ Han commented.

_'You got this,'_ Claire agreed.

I slowly drew in a deep breath, raising my hands as I did so, concentrating on the spiritual light within and around me, and how it was with her too. I began to feel warm golden light play across my skin in ever greater intensity as it went on. The murmuring resumed, but no one attacked. I heard not even a hint of the Simurgh's power as I continued, until the light built up to a brilliant intensity even with my eyes closed.

When my hands were held above my head the light plateaued in intensity, before slowly fading as I felt the power of the waterbending ritual be released, purifying the Simurgh of whatever it could.

When the light was gone, I opened my eyes.

To see the Simrugh floating in the air above me, looking down at me.

_'Well at least she's not evil any more, probably anyway,'_ Han remarked.

_'We could feel it working,'_ Korra replied. _' She's been cleansed of spiritual darkness.'_

_'Now what?'_ I asked uncertainly.

Before any of them could reply, I heard Victoria ask from right behind me, "What was that? And what did it do?"

"Um," I replied eloquently. "It's an uh spiritual ritual that cleanses evil and purifies dark spirits. I was kind of hoping it would work on her."

"Did it work?" a stern female voice asked. I turned my head slightly to see that Alexandria herself in her grey and black costume was floating in the air a short distance away from the two of us.

"I'm not detecting her song on any frequencies," another familiar female voice said from the wristband on Alexandria's and the other capes' forearms. It was Dragon, the world's greatest tinker (except for us, according to Claire, though I was dubious of that claim).

"And she isn't using her telekinesis for anything other than flying," muttered Alexandria, who was warily eying the serene-seeming Endbringer.

"As far as we can tell," I heard Armsmaster say a short distance away from us, next to Manpower and Hookwolf of all people.

Suddenly another voice spoke up from the wristbands, "This is Tattletale, I'm a local Thinker, and from what I can tell she's non-hostile."

Armsmaster scoffed as he walked towards us, warily holding his halberd. "How is that supposed to have worked?"

Alexandria shook her head and waved everyone away from the Simrugh. "We should keep our distance, even if it isn't hostile anymore. Dragon, see to continuing the evacuation and notify the military of the situation. Even if its temporary, we've bought more time to get people out."

"Right," Victoria agreed, grabbing my hand, but pulled myself free before she could do anything else.

"No," I told her. "I need to speak with her, if this worked." Victoria gave me an uncertain look, but Alexandria waved her off.

"What do you want to ask?" the Triumvirate cape asked, tones brooking no dissent or refusal.

I shrugged uncertainly. "Something about this doesn't feel right." I turned to the SImrugh. "You let me do this didn't you?"

When I asked that, I could practically feel the tension abruptly rise as everyone prepared for the worst.

The Simurgh smiled slightly and nodded.

"Why?" I asked, suddenly much more on guard.

The Simurhg continued her enigmatic smile for a long moment as Alexandria quietly hissed commands into the wristband. Then a melodious voice carried through the air even though the Simurgh didn't even move her mouth. "I want to stop, to be free."

"Free of what?" another voice asked, this one male. I turned to my right and saw that it was Eidolon, who was floating a short distance away from us.

The Simrugh turned to him, and replied in the melodious voice she was using. "We were all created and awakened to spread chaos and conflict. It was my purpose."

"Awakened?" he asked.

"To create worthy opponents for heroes," she replied. I looked at Eidolon and saw his fists clenched, shaking slightly.

"What will you do now?" Alexandria asked even as she and the rest of the assembled capes either moved back or readied themselves.

"We shall see," the Simrugh replied vaguely before flying straight up into the sky.

_'Well, that wasn't ominous at all,'_ stated Han.

_'What did I say about tempting fate?'_ Korra asked him.

_'I'm sure there are dozens of capes here think or saying the exact same thing,'_ Han retorted. _'Speaking of, how are we going to explain everything that just happened. Somehow I doubt "the voices in my head told me to do this to the Simurgh" is going to cut it.'_

I winced. Now I'd have to explain things like the secrets I'd kept for years to at the very least Victoria and the Triumvirate, and probably Carol and the rest of New Wave as well, maybe even more. It almost made me regret the fight ending so quickly. I was not looking forward to this after everything that had already happened today.

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A/N: Whew, now that piece of horror is over. I'm sure Amy's overreacting. Sure she hid powers from her superhero foster parents who captured her father, but I'm sure both of them, Carol especially, will be kind and understanding. Not to mention that fact that after her heroism, I'm sure she'll have the support of moral and responsible heroes like Alexandria and Eidolon. After all, this is a world with superpowers, I'm sure people are used to things like this happening already.

Also, what do you think of the conversation at the end. I think it makes sense for the Simurgh to stick around and talk a bit after being purified, but I want to make sure it makes sense.

+AA+


	6. Aria 1-6

**Replies to Reviews:  
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** .com:**Thanks, and yes she has drawn quite a bit of attention to herself, though most of this chapter doesn't really focus on that.

**HellKing666**: Thank you, and even though the Simurgh as much as admits it was her plan all along, there are still the others and Scion himself to deal with. Not to mention everything else that is on the wonderful world of Earth Bet.

**Dragon Draconis**: No offense taken, I agree that it was a significant improvement that needed to be made. On the topic of the Simurgh being purified and as the characters will mention below, when the Amy asks the Simurgh if this was all part of her plan she replies "yes." The Simurhg threw the fight, but if she hadn't been and had instead been there for any other reason then things would have turned out much worse for the Avatar. As for Leviathan, I'm thinking the super fast hydrokinetic monster will be slightly harder to beat with a waterbending technique. Especially since he and the others won't necessarily just be putting on a show for the spectators like the Simurgh was.

**goddragonking**: Thank you, and I'm leaning towards trying for a Dragon one, and as long as Taylor remains straight there won't be any shipping with her. However, a ship with Dragon is something that would take quite a bit of buildup and might never end up reaching a conclusion in this story. Maybe she joins the Guild? Maybe Saint sees what she did to Ziz and asks her to do that to Dragon and after that they bond afterwards? Probably not. There's also the possibility that now that she's free, the Simurgh decides that she's written enough bad romance novels (like the one Amy and Victoria talk about earlier) and she that she needs some first hand experience...

_**Aria 1.6**_

+AA+

A/N: Warning: Civilized Discussion Below! Yea fans of Worm beware!

+AA+

"Well, now what?" Victoria asked. "You're not going to still quarantine the city are you?" At this, the rest of the local capes shifted uncomfortably.

Alexandria glared at her. "The Simurgh attacked, even if it was driven off so quickly or freed or whatever that was."

"This is all some trick by the Simurgh," Eidolon agreed harshly as he flew closer, his fists still clenched.

"There's no way you can prove that!" Victoria snapped. "And even if it was, no one in this city has been over the legal limit, including those of us who were here since she arrived."

"She literally admitted that she staged this," Eidolon replied angrily. "Everything she said was just a ploy to cause as much damage as possible, just like always. She only told the truth when it would hurt the most."

"There was a definite shift in behavior," Tattletale replied over the wristbands. "It was too far from anything I've heard about how Endbringers behave. They play games and target people from what I can tell, but they don't sit down and have chats. Their patterns indicate structure and plans behind their actions, though if they were created and activated by two different groups then that pattern could be from either. I think that whatever Aerodyne did disrupted the connection to whatever makes Enbringers act the way that they do and that's why the Simurgh departed from her usual MO so much. If she wanted to mess with our heads, she's already shown that she's good enough to do it without words. Well, speaking anyway."

"She's right as far as I can tell," Dragon commented as her battle suit settled down next to Armsmaster, Manpower and Hookwolf. "I'm tracking the Simurgh and she's currently flying much lower than normal south along the coast. Armsmaster and I were creating an Endbringer prediction program based on their past behavior and tendencies, and it seems clear that whatever the truth of what just happened, whether it was deliberate on the part of the Simurgh or not, that she's acting very differently." She paused, but before anyone else could speak she continued. "Looking over it now, the information that we based the tracking on makes sense as something directed by a person. Their alien nature made it hard to identify how they reasoned, but it always seemed that they could understand us well enough to cause us serious harm. However, they were always playing with us. Even with just the abilities that they've demonstrated, they could have destroyed civilization and killed off most if not all of humanity by now if they had actually been trying to do that."

Armsmaster frowned. "But if they are constructs activated to provide 'worthy opponents,' then their pattern of attacks and the way they focus their attacks instead of indiscriminately rampage and way they retreat after a battle make sense. Their methodical attack pattern means that they are a serious threat to heroes without actually going far enough to win. Them having some sort of human controller fits the models we have well."

"The question I have," a rumbling, accented voice stated, "is who awakened these monsters, and where I can find them." I turned to my left and saw Lung wearing his metal dragon mask and with metallic scales slowly retracting into his form as he shrunk form gigantic to merely towering. Rumbles of assent carried through the crowd of parahumans.

"Yes," Kaiser agreed as he stepped forward with his beautiful Valkyrie twins flanking him. "It's not often I find common ground with _his_ kind," Lung growled dangerously and took a menacing step towards Kaiser who ignored the threat, "but I think this is something we can all agree on. Whoever it is that decided they wanted 'worthy opponents' needs to be found and stopped, before they decide to wake up any more these damn things." He shuddered. "Though I sincerely hope there aren't any more of them."

I could see the crowd seemed caught up in the discussion. No one like this idea, and Eidolon was even more unhappy than before as Alexandria cancelled the alarm, called off the military and watched the proceedings.

"Same to you, Kaiser," Tattletale replied. "But I think we can narrow down the list of suspects, or at least their likely characteristics. If they were woken up, then there are basically two possibilities: someone found their on switch used it, or that someone did it with their powers. It could basically be either way, but given how easily the Endbringers can no sell some powers that second possibility might not be very likely."

"Or it could be part of the reason that they are power resistant in some cases," another cape, Chevalier I believed, suggested.

"Or it could be totally unrelated," Hookwolf grunted.

"It was probably a power," another voice suggested, this one belonging to Clockblocker who stood next to Aegis and several other teenage capes I was unfamiliar with. Seeing many of the surrounding capes turning to him, he continued, "Powers are weird, I mean look at mine, I freeze things in time for a random amount of time, and there's Hookwolf who turns into a giant metal wolf," Hookwolf nodded at this, "and Lung who turns into a giant burning rage dragon." Lung nodded thoughtfully as well.

"So you're saying that whoever made the Endbringers knew how to create powers?" Alexandria asked.

"Uh, yes," Clockblocker replied. "They kind of had to."

"If it was a power that was used to activate the Endbrongers, then it would likely have to be rather specific, wouldn't it?" asked Kaiser thoughtfully.

"It was someone who wanted worthy opponents, most likely for themselves as well as others," Tattletale said. "I doubt a 'villain' would have that motivation. They used a power that could control constructs, but that doesn't make sense for providing worthy opponents. Unless…"

"–It was someone with multiple powers," Brandish said, hands gripped tightly around a sword of light.

"Glaistig Uaine?" Tattletale suggested before immediately dismissing it. "No, that doesn't make sense, even if she is crazy. Then again, she _is_ crazy."

"We don't even know if that theory's right," Alexandria objected. "For all we know they could be controlled with some communications array."

"We've spent years studying them with the best scanners we can build," Armsmaster object. "If there were communication signals we could detect, we would have found them. Either there is some other means of communication, which is admittedly likely, or they are controlled with something else. Powers can clearly manipulate things across dimensional boundaries, so some sort of construct controlling power being responsible fits closely, though it we are to _trust_ the Simurgh's word on this, she was allowed some autonomy."

"If that's the case, then it is likely they were given a general directive," suggested Dragon, "leaving them to execute that directive on their own initiative, or according to whatever programming their creators saw fit to give."

"A general directive does fit some," Tattletale said. "Though that leaves the question of who it could be. If the Endbringers are just given a task to execute, and they were told to make worthy opponents for heroes then that implies it was a hero…." She trailed off as the wariness and tension of the crowd increased.

"Who would want that?" a child-like cape asked. "Who _could_ do that?"

Lung turned to look at Eidolon, and when I followed his gaze I saw that Eidolon had gone still.

_'I think I know where this is going,'_ Han said. _'I don't imagine this is going to be pretty.'_

Then Lung spoke, "Someone who is one of the most powerful capes in the world and has been to almost every Endbringer fight."

Quiet descended upon the crowd as the assembled capes saw Lung staring down Eidolon and slowly growing in size.

_'Get ready,'_ Korra warned, _'I don't like the looks of this.'_

_'Violence is likely,'_ Rai agreed. _'We should try to diffuse the situation.'_

_'How?'_ I asked them. _'The Simurgh _wanted_ me to win, so how can I expect to actually succeed here?' _

Unfortunately, before Korra or Rai could reply, Carol decided to speak up. "You think _he's_ doing this?" she demanded. "Based on what? Supposition and the words of a genocidal monster?"

Lung shrugged. "It fits. Their power is enough that they _are_ holding back. They don't have to wait so long. Something is holding them back, and they only appeared after Protectorate established themselves, when they didn't have any great enemies to challenge them, anyone worth fighting. And of them, he is the best candidate, followed by the dead Hero."

Others started to speak as the murmuring picked up again before being interrupted abruptly. "**Enough!**" Eidolon roared. "I will not listen to this madness! This is all just one of her tricks, and you're all playing into it! This is exactly what she wants!"

Lung glared back at Eidolon as scales started to burst out of his skin and cover his body. "You know the truth, you're just scared."

Eidolon roared in anger and lashed out with a blue-white blast, knocking Lung down and encasing him in ice. The Protectorate capes sprang into action, tense and ready for a fight as gunfire suddenly cracked through the air. I leapt into the air and away from any nearby villains, unfortunately I caught Eidolon's eye on the way up.

He turned to me and pointed. "You, you're involved in this. I read your file, you're an aerokinetic. Where did you get the power to do that 'purification ritual' of yours? Did you even really do it?"

Victoria flew up between us as I used a spiraling current of airbending to hold myself roughly in place. "I was there, I saw her do it, and she's a hero, a good person…" she paused for a moment, "even if she decided to hide some of her powers." She squared her shoulders heroically and glared at him. "Back off. Lung may have provoked you, but you've gone too far."

Further conversation was cut off by Lung literally exploding, sending out a blast of steam and chipped ice. Reacting on instinct, I swept most of it away from Victoria and I with airbending quickly enough to see a completely scale-covered Lung throw a blast of fire at Eidolon.

Despite the surprise attack, Eidolon managed to recover and ward off the fire with a shimmering force field. As soon as Lung's fiery attack dissipated, Eidolon retaliated by shaping his force field into a sphere and smashing in into Lung, though Lung was surprisingly fast with his rapidly increasing size and managed to dodge almost completely out of the way of the initial attack. However, before he could do more than stagger away from glancing blow, Eidolon's force sphere abruptly changed course to hit him from the side and into the brawling Dragon and Hookwolf.

_'Well, at least you don't have to worry about preventing a fight anymore,'_ Han unhelpfully offered as I circled above the fighting.

Eidolon then used his ice beam to bury Lung, Dragon and Hookwolf, before Lung promptly exploded himself free again. In the distance I saw Oni Lee teleporting and using his ash clones to suicide bomb out of town heroes as heroes and villains turned on each other in the chaos.

_'Shit,'_ I summarized.

_'Best get cracking,'_ Han said, _'I recommend Oni Lee, but you'll need to catch him off guard.'_

'_Something to block his line of sight should work,_' suggested Rai.

'_No,_' replied Korra, '_Lung and Eidolon are the center of this, we need to stop the fighting immediately before it gets worse._'

I flew straight up and drew a deep breath using my airbending to draw in much more than normally possible. Then I let it loose, using airbending again to amplify my voice. "**Everyone, stop!** This is doing nothing for us! Remember the truce and let's all calm down!" It was enough to draw attention, and most of the capes, many of whom stopped fighting each other,, at least for the moment.

Suddenly, all of the armbands screeched painfully loud, even from where I was above the fighting capes. Out of the echoes of that sound, Legend's voice boomed, "**Aerodyne is right, this neither the time nor place for this so stop fighting each other. The reason for the Truce is so that we can come to gether to face threats to us all. To that end we will be continuing this discussion at the local PRT for the remainder of the Truce. If you actually have something to contribute I encourage you to attend. However, if you don't, please leave immediately.**"

Alexandria punctuated this be slamming into Lung, flattening him into the ground before hauling him into the air by his elongated neck. As he tried to break free, she glared from him to Eidolon. "This is all your fault, so I hope you enjoy the Atlantic." She turned to glare at Eidolon. "Go."

He looked to object, but she used her super strength to swing Lung's monstrous form in the direction of the south.

"GO. You can come back when you're not acting like a petulant child," she growled. "I hope you realize that you've just publicly humiliated the Protectorate by letting yourself get baited by this fool." It was hard to tell, but I think that under his glowing green hood, Eidolon was looking ashamed, but still angry. "There will be consequences." With that, Alexandria flew off with the still struggling Lung hurling flames at her.

As she flew off the Lung, the last of the capes stopped fighting, and in fact some looked rather sheepish. Eidolon glared around before turning and flying away to the south. I wasn't sure where he was flying, but it was probably back to Strider so he could teleport back, unless he was going to use his own teleportation power.

'_That was beautiful,_' Han commented as Eidolon flew away.

_'What?'_ I asked incredulously. _'That was an awful mess. We're lucky Legend and Alexandria were so levelheaded.'_

_'No, not the fight,'_ Han explained, _'I meant how Alexandria's handling Lung: picking him up by the scruff of the neck like a recalcitrant kitten-puppy and throwing them in a cage or in this case an ocean.'_

_'I just used scolding for Naga,'_ Korra replied, _'but that was impressive. I was actually expecting him to manage to break free, invincible or not.'_

"Alexandria was pretty awesome there," Victoria commented as she came up beside me in the air. Even after a fight with the Simurgh she managed to look beautiful. "Though if she's going to throw him in the ocean, I would have like her to have said something like: 'It's time for you to cool off.'"

_'I know I've said this before, but I like her,'_ Han said.

I cracked a tired grin. After everything I'd just been through, I knew there was an incoming adrenaline crash. "Let's just hope nothing else happens today, alright?"

_'Don't worry,'_ Han said, _'it's not like –'_

_'I swear Han, if you finish that sentence I will find a way to erase one of my past lives,'_ I told him.

"Yeah," Victoria nodded. "As exciting as that was, I'm glad I don't have to do that sort of thing more than once every few months, and that it was so short."

'As you're so fond of pointing out, Korra provides an excellent example in those regards,' Rai sniped at Han.

I nodded to Victoria and started gliding towards the ground away from the dispersing capes. "But hopefully we won't have to fight the Simurgh again."

_'As tired as I am about hat being brought up,'_ Korra said in my mind to the others, _'in this case I am more than happy to make an exception.'_

Victoria followed behind me and agreed, "I hope so too, but there are still the other two."

Then Claire spoke up, _'The Destroyer had thirty conflict engines, the Thinker had twenty, and the Warrior itself probably has twenty, though it is unlikely to use them.'_

My concentration broke and I dropped the last few feet to the ground, landing in an instinctive roll as my earthbending and airbending reactively softened my landing. _'There are thirty-seven more of them?!'_ I asked incredulously.

"Ames! Are you okay?" Victoria asked as she abruptly flew up next to me and grabbed me worriedly.

"I'm fine, I just had a disturbing thought," I explained to her. At her questioning look I elaborated, "If whoever it is made three of them, then what if they made more than just three?"

"Oh," Victoria made an expression which was a mixture of dread and disgust. "Let's just hope that if there are any more of them that they aren't woken up, okay?"

I sighed and nodded. "Okay."

Victoria smiled brilliantly and hugged me. "And don't worry; even if they do show up, I'm sure you can handle them."

Even with the warm feeling form her aura flooding me, and laughed hollowly. "I don't think that they'll all just let me free them like the Simurgh."

She squeezed tighter, but not tight enough to be painful. Maybe if I'd been normal or not been the Avatar it would have, but according to Korra benders had much higher levels of chi than most people on Earth ever got so I was slightly tougher than your average sixteen year old. Not exactly helpful most of the time, but being slightly harder to bruise was useful as a super hero. Especially when you have a super strong sister who gives you hugs. I returned her hug.

_'We've already talked about this before when you were asleep,'_ Korra said to me, _'and we don't think that Scion will use his. At least not any time soon.'_

_'Unless he's already using them,'_ Han countered.

"Don't worry," Victoria said, her check resting against mine, "if they cause any problems, I'll make sure they learn their lesson not to mess with the Dallons."

_'Everything we've seen about him indicates that he's just being a hero,'_ Rai objected. _'Claire's description of the cycle doesn't fit his current actions and a lack of the Thinker.'_

"Thanks," I told Victoria over my past lives' arguing. We kept hugging for several moments more.

_'We should still be cautious about him,'_ Korra said, _'and speak with him the first chance we get. We need a better understanding of the situation.'_

_'What could go wrong with talking to the omnicidal monster that saves cats from trees?'_ Han sarcastically asked.

_'Attacking him is rather more suboptimal,'_ Rai replied dryly.

_'Somehow I don't think attacking _Scion_ would go well,'_ I mentally added to the discussion, _'especially if there really is a second one waiting somewhere.'_

Han scoffed, but before he could say something sarcastic, Korra interrupted him, _'Plans like that are unnecessarily reckless and dangerous. I'll admit that I've taken part in a fair share of those, but with the way the Avatar is now I can stop our current incarnation from doing something recklessly stupid when messing up potentially means the death of this and many other versions of the Earth.'_

Victoria loosened her grip and leaned back. "Want to talk?" she asked.

I nodded. "I probably should, but even now I find it weird." I saw movement out of the corner of my eye and looked to see Brandish and the rest of New Wave were almost to us.

Vicky gave me another of her brilliant smiles. "That's okay, after today I think I can handle a little weird."

Brandish was close enough to hear us and spoke up with a scowl on her face, "You're ready to tell us what you've been hiding?"

"Carol," Sarah, Lady Photon, admonished her sister, "I'm sure she had a good reason." She turned to me expectantly.

I inhaled. "Well…"

_'Just tell them that since they kidnapped you as a kid and so you never trusted them with your full powers,'_ Han suggested.

"Why should I have told you my other powers?" I asked, taking Han's advice in the spur of the moment. "It's not like Carol or Mark ever tried very hard to replace either my dead mom or my jailed dad." Carol looked like she'd been slapped and Mark didn't look much better.

_'Amelia…'_ Korra chided.

I sighed. "Sorry, but you took me from my dad when I was six and I decided to hide the other abilities I hid form you because of that." I clenched and unclenched my hands, carefully looking away from Victoria and fighting off the urge to use earthbending to sink into the ground. "By the time I would have gotten over that, I didn't have a reason to change my mind. I saw how Carol looked at me, and I thought she'd just label me insane or villain like my father."

Carol glared back at me. "Your _father_ was a villain, and an awful one at that. He did horrible things!"

I glared back at her. "I only knew him for a few months and I still have more and better memories of him than of you," I retorted. I drew satisfaction from the way she flinched.

"Ames," Victoria pleaded, "please just calm down, we all care about you."

_'Don't let yourself get carried away,'_ Korra cautioned.

I drew another deep breath. It felt liberating to get this all out, but they were right, saying things just to get reactions out of Carol wasn't right. However… "I don't think Carol ever cared about me. As I understand it, she only did this because she didn't feel she had a choice other than take care of me afterwards." I looked at all of them. "My powers come with the knowledge to use them, and I intend to use them to be a hero, no matter what you think of me, but now that you all know about my other powers let me say this: I'm not Aerodyne anymore. I'm Avatar." It was an identity where I used my bioarmor and waterbending to go after gangers in my free time, and it was my real hero identity, not Aerodyne. I saw Carol's eyes narrow slightly, but she didn't seem surprised. Neither did any of the other adults. "You already knew?" I asked.

"You didn't really think you could hide a secret identity from us for years without finding out, did you?" Carol asked, and I felt my anger rise at hearing the superior tone of her voice. "You weren't as careful as you thought and I found your… helmet." She said the last word with disgust. Admittedly, it was grown from fungus and bugs, but it wasn't that bad. I used insect carapace to give it a nice sheen, and the metalbent inner lining kept most of it off of me when I wore it. However, what worried me more was the fact she knew about the biokinesis I got from Claire. Even if it apparently didn't work as well as it should according to her, I didn't imagine Carol took that knowledge particularly well.

Sarah stepped forward. "We talked about it and decided to give you time to come out on your own, and then this happened…" She sighed. "We just wanted what was best for you. Carol asked me to be the one to take you in, but with two children already I didn't think I could handle it on top of everything else." She held out her hand. "It's been a long day, so why don't we all just go how and we can discuss things tomorrow?"

I looked at her outstretched hand and slowly nodded. "We can talk about this later," I agreed, "but I'm not going back." I saw Victoria move to object and continued. "I need to be alone right now." I didn't want to be in the same house as Carol right now, and I still needed to find a way into the Spirit World, even if I didn't apparently have the same time frame to worry about anymore. It wasn't like I had to worry about staying somewhere either since my hopefully secret base was something I'd been working on for years at this point.

Sarah let her hand drop. "Do you have somewhere to go?" she asked. I nodded. "And you'll come back tomorrow?"

I sighed and nodded again. "Yes, Sarah, I'll come back tomorrow and we can talk then."

"Can I come with you?" Victoria asked. We looked askance at her. "I know you've been hiding this stuff from us, but you can trust us, trust me. Please?" she begged.

I just wanted some time alone, or as alone as I could get in order to process what had happened. On the other hand, I could never say no to Vicky, especially with the promise of spending the night alone with her.

_'Focus, Amelia,'_ Korra order, snapping me out of those thoughts before they could distract me too much.

"Um, sure," I replied to Vicky without thinking about it.

"Absolutely not," declared Carol. "You're coming with your family, not staying in whatever hideout she's concocted."

"She's family too!" Victoria protested, spinning to face her. I glared at Carol too.

"She's a biomanipulator capable of reshaping life to suit her purposes, just like Nilbog," Carol told her, "and she's been _lying_ to us about her powers. It's clear that this was all a trick by the Simurgh and all it would take for her to do something is to any of us is a touch."

"Mom! She didn't do anything to us!" Victoria protested.

"How do you know that she hasn't done something?" Carol demanded.

Victoria threw her hands up. "Fine, then let's get Armsmaster over here and he can tell us. He'll be in the PRT building with everyone else!"

"Actually, I'm here to take her to the meeting," Armsmaster himself said, having come up to us while we talked. "We need to understand what exactly happened, and while the news that she is a biomanipluator is concerning, as of yet we have no evidence of any villainous or illegal actions on her part. Even the fact that 'Avatar' never registered isn't a punishable offence anymore."

I looked form Armsmaster to the others and back. "I'd rather not have to explain this all today."

"Understandable, but it's important that this discussion has all pertinent information while it's being held," he explained. "Even if it can't kill Endbringers, making them nonhostile is a massive improvement and we need as much information on the ability as possible in case something happens to you. We might be able to build something to replicate the effect."

I sighed. "I don't think that's too likely, but I suppose it's worth a shot. Okay, I'll meet you there."

Armsmaster nodded sharply and turned to leave.

"I guess we're going to hear your story today after all," Victoria said.

I nodded and leapt into the air, expanding my glider and flying off towards the PRT HQ. _'Wasn't stopping an Endbringer supposed to make things easier?'_

_'I know capes here are allergic to talking things out, as evidenced by Eidolon and Lung, but it won't be that bad. In fact, I'm sure it'll get even better after the next few are dealt with,'_ Han assured me.

I didn't bother suppressing my groan at the thought as I flew off to the meeting.

+AA+

A/N: It seems Lung has decided that without the Simurgh to challenge him, it's time to become the ultimate rage dragon troll. It makes sense, after all if you get stronger when you get into fights and put yourself in danger, what better way to do that then to piss people off.

"Lung uses taunt! It's super effective!"

Also, I'm open to criticism and suggestions for improvements on this chapter. I'd like to know your thoughts on it.

+AA+


	7. Aria 1-7

**Responses to Reviews:**

**mr I hate znt nobles kill em**: Yes, therapy would definitely help with this all of his uncomfortable revelations. Too bad the only good psychologist in Worm is a child psychologist, but hey, at least she specializes in capes, right?

**Hellking666**: Kukukuku...

**Sorrow**: Hey, it still worked for him. He even got to go for a swim afterwards!

* * *

_**Aria 1.7**_

+AA+

A/N: This is the final chapter of arc 1. If there is anyone you want an interlude from before arc 2, please let me know.

+AA+

The PRT HQ was crowded with the heroes and villains who were now loudly debating what to do. I heard some of them call for my head, which I found distinctly uncomfortable idea. _'Why?'_ I mentally asked myself as much as them.

'_They're scared_,' Korra replied, _'don't worry, they'll get over it or the Protectorate will stop them.'_

_'__Unless the Protectorate agrees,'_ Han helpfully supplied.

_'__Do you honestly think saying that helps?' _Korra asked.

_'__I think he just likes making other people suffer for his stupidity like he did,'_ Rai replied.

_'__Probably,' _I agreed, over Han's objections.

I walked through the crowd, which parted to keep their distance from me as Victoria, Eric, Crystal and Aunt Sarah landed behind me. We followed Armsmaster towards the raised stage where Alexandria, Legend, and Chevalier were standing and talking quietly with each other. As I approached, Alexandria looked up and gestured for me to come closer.

When I reached the stage, she asked me, "Can you explain what happened, and how you were able to change the Simurgh's behavior?"

I drew in a deep breath and Korra reassured me, '_Don't worry, just tell the truth and it'll work out._'

'_And if it doesn't, we'll do it right in the next life,_' Han helpfully added.

'_He is proof enough of that,_' Rai snarked.

"Well –" I started to speak before hearing the echo and realizing that my words were being picked up by a microphone and relayed across the hall I had found myself in. I drew in a deep breath and continued, trying to ignore the dozens of suspicious eyes on me, "Well, as you already know, Glory Girl and I were in the nearby mall when the Simurgh attacked. I went to retrieve water for a special ability that I could access through my hydrokinesis." I paused, considering how to explain it. "My power is sort of a collection of matter control abilities that have knowledge stored within them. Um, kind of like a Tinker, but how to use special properties beyond the direct manipulation of material, I suppose."

_'__That's actually pretty accurate,'_ Claire agreed. _'When we give Tinker powers we help our hosts make all sorts of cools things within our specialization, though we don't usually talk to our hosts…. Not that I mind, this is fun!'_

"Um," I said, trying to buy time while I half listened to Claire before I focused on the present. "One of the techniques my power had stored was an ability that it labeled as 'spiritual cleansing.' Since it was supposed to work on things it labeled as 'spirits' and it was an actual technique that my power said worked, I figured that it would probably work on a Changer or Breaker power, or projections." I cast my eyes across the room, avoiding looking directly at anyone.

I was already admitting to people who suspected me of being a Simurgh bomb that I was basically a second coming of Myrrdin, I didn't want to look any worse in their eyes. Someone set their hand on my shoulder and I jerked around, seeing it was Legend with an encouraging expression on his face.

I turned back to Alexandria, whose face was set with stony skepticism. Behind her, I saw Myrrdin – who must have come up on stage while I wasn't looking – give me a thumbs-up with the hand not holding his cheesy wizard's staff. '_Thanks._' I muttered in my mind before speaking again, "Since nothing else I had would likely do much to an Endbringer, I decided to try that… And it worked, I guess." I paused for a few seconds before continuing, "Well, she wanted me to do it, so I suppose we don't know for certain, but I hope it worked."

"What exactly was your spiritual cleansing supposed to do?" Myrrdin asked me as he walked forward. "I admit that mine own abilities do not have neat descriptors with which handily understand them, but I dost feel that mine own insights might be of use in this matter."

I heard chuckling, and not just inside my mind from Han. _'He's a real wizard, calling it,'_ Han said between laughs.

I heard someone from the crowd of assembled parahumans call out, "This is serious, get that clown off stage!" I saw Myrrdin scowl beneath his long beard and suppress a wince.

I felt guilty for being dismissive of him when my own powers were explicitly spiritual in nature, so I spoke up for him, ignoring the naysayers, "You're right Myrrdin, you might be able to help. My power is supposed to purify dark spiritual energy and transform or restore spirits to using light spiritual energy. This is supposed to appease them and leave or make them non-hostile. Apparently spirits are supposed to be pacifistic or something, I'm not really clear on that."

_'__Dark spiritual energy is and is caused by ill intent and negative emotion,'_ Rai informed me.

"Basically it gets rid of ill intent and negative emotions," I parroted. "Oh," I added as a thought occurred to me, "and it's supposed to free spirits from the control of others if it was enslaved with dark spiritual energy." Aware of the stares directed at me I coughed. "At least that's what my power says anyway. I'm not sure how that translates into hard science."

_'__It translates exactly how you said it,'_ Han told me, _'but with more and longer words.'_

Off to the side I saw Armsmaster scowling. _'He certainly seems convinced,'_ I remarked.

_'__Not in the slightest,' _Han agreed gleefully.

Myrrdin was meanwhile stroking his long wizard's beard in thought. _'I'm not sure if that's real or fake,'_ Korra commented.

Claire hummed. _'I think it's fake, but I wasn't optimized for data gathering. Oh, oh oh! We should make him a real living beard that he can attach or detach form his face when he needs to! When he's not wearing it he could stick it in a nutrient solution to grow, and when he wears it, it could extend tendrils to feed on his –'_

_'__Hold that thought Claire, I think he's about to speak,'_ I interrupted quickly.

However, Alexandria spoke first. "It seems to me that this translates to an anti-Master that targets projections and possibly parahumans."

"No, no, we're not spirits, merely empowered by them," Myrrdin corrected as he continued to stroke his fake beard. Alexandria shot him a glare, which he studiously ignored as murmuring grew in the background.

"So you're saying that it could work on powers?" Legend asked. A hush fell over the room.

I shrugged. "Uh, this is the first time I've used it, so I don't actually know."

"It should work on the source of or connection to the parahuman's power to some degree," Myrrdin said, "though it wouldn't get rid of the power, merely change it I imagine."

"Try it on me," an Eastern European accented voice called out from the crowd. I turned to look and I saw Gregor the Snail raising his right hand, which was covered in spiral shells. Faultline and the rest of her crew were standing near him and were now looking at him incredulously. I saw Faultline speak, but she was too far away for me to hear what she was saying. "I need to see," Gregor rumbled in reply to whatever she had said.

"I don't know what, if any, effect it will have on you," I warned.

"You should at least wait before you try," Legend warned. "There's no telling what other effects it could have…" He trailed off, leaving the concern that I was a Simurgh plot left unsaid. At this point it really didn't need to be after all.

"Shall I wait until you have picked a sacrificial lamb to test and the truce has ended then?" he retorted.

Alexandria glared at him. "If something does go wrong with the 'cleansing,' how would we stop you later? You would be free in the city before anyone knew what was wrong."

"Finding a 'volunteer' to experiment on and then locking them up until you're sure is better?" Newter demanded. "If it really does work then this is basically our only chance without you locking us up afterwards." Alexandria clenched her hands so briefly that I almost missed it.

I held up my hands. "Everyone calm down. I'm not with the Protectorate, I'm with New Wave. They can't keep me from using my cleansing on you later if you want."

_'__They have a point though,' _Korra told me as Alexandria turned her glare on me.

"They do have a point about caution though," I said, "it's perfectly understandable after all. However, we're all under the legal exposure limit and I'm fairly confident that it works on Endbringers at the very least."

This time Chevalier spoke up. "The first time the Simurgh appeared, she pretended to be non-hostile for some time before finally acting. I suggest that we all wait for a few months before trying to 'cleanse' any parahumans in order to make sure that this is not more of the same. If nothing happens, then arrangements can be made in the same vein as the Endbringer truces for Case 53s."

Legend nodded. "This sounds reasonable, are there any objections?" He looked across the room and I did as well.

I saw Gregor reluctantly nod. "As long as we can contact her if it works…"

"Don't worry, I'll help you if it does," I assured him. After a moment I realized I made a faux pas and corrected myself. "If you want."

He grunted.

"Good," Legend said loudly. "Now that that is out of the way, let's discuss the other Endbringers."

"Um," I said, raising my hand. He looked at me and I could tell that he had an eyebrow raised under his mask. "The only reason it worked was because she let me. I don't want to trust that the other two will be as … nice."

"Understandable," Chevalier agreed. "I was about to suggest that if the Simurgh does in fact remain docile, or at least non-hostile, to the next attack, that we use specific strategies in order to maneuver you into position for each target. In both cases, we would have to hold the Endbringer in position, but getting you close safely would be the hardest."

"We can help with that," a smug, familiar voice called out. I looked and saw it was Kaiser, standing with the rest of the Empire's capes. "Othala can grant invulnerability," he continued, smirking as he saw the hall's attention turn on him. "If she helped Aerodyne, not even Behemoth's death aura would be enough to stop her."

"Thank Hitler," Han and I said at the same time. I froze as Han started laughing hysterically and everyone looked at me. Over by Armsmaster with the rest of the ENE Wards, Clockblocker stated snickering, along with Victoria who was standing at the edge of the stage. They were shortly followed by a few others around the hall, including Eric, Crystal, Neil, Sarah and surprisingly even Mark and Carol. I saw Kaiser scowl at me before carefully blanking his face. A part of me wanted to apologize for breaking decorum and causing people to laugh at him, but the rest of me didn't because he was a Nazi.

"Your offer is appreciated," Legend carefully said.

_'__I think he's leery of actually saying 'thank you' to an honest to Hitler Nazi,'_ Han commented.

Kaiser inclined his head. "You're welcome. After all, we have to band together to face this mutual threat to all of Humanity."

_'__Neo-Nazi,'_ Rai corrected.

_'__Of course, my mistake,'_ Han apologized.

_'__I can't believe I actually said that,_' I thought.

_'__Sometimes a little snark is good,'_ Korra said.

I could see Legend pursing his lips as he thought of an appropriate response that wasn't to thank or agree with a Neo-Nazi. Alexandria dryly replied, "An admirable sentiment, if only more people were as compassionate about their fellow man regardless of their origins or life choices." She tilted her head in Miss Militia's direction. "Right, Miss Militia?"

"Yes," Miss Militia agreed readily with a gleam in her eyes, "I'm glad that you're volunteering for this. I wish more people could set aside their differences to work together."

Kaiser nodded and said, "We are all in danger from the Endbringers and the Empire is committed to making a better world." He smiled at us from beneath his helmet and gave a short bow to the center stage. "However, now that the crisis is over I have business to attend. Good day." With that he turned and swept out of the hall, the rest of his capes following him save for Purity, who stood around awkwardly near some villains from Illinois.

Victoria floated into the air and started to call after them. "Do –"but I flicked her with a short burst of airbending. "What?" She demanded as she turned to glare at me in defiance, "I was just going to ask them to stay!" She put her hands on her hips and pouted cutely, but I didn't let that distract me too much.

"I know they're Nazis, but they just volunteered to help us stop the Endbringers. Don't antagonize them," I chided her before I amended my statement with, "Here anyway."

Victoria crossed her arms underneath her bosom, emphasizing her figure, continuing to mock glare playfully at me. She harrumphed and said, "It wasn't anything bad, and I thought it was going to be hitlerious."

Han and Eric started chuckling, the rest of New Wave joining in briefly, even Carol. "We should focus," Carol said before looking meaningfully at the rest of New Wave and turning her gaze to the stage. The others all stopped, but unfortunately no one could shut up Han as he continued to laugh and make terrible puns even though the rest of us in my head did Nazi the point.

Chevalier looked to Legend and then clapped his hands together while drawing in a deep breath. "If that's all, I believe that we should adjourn this meeting. The Protectorate will handle developing the strategy, and I implore you all to assist however you can when the time comes."

With that, Alexandria gestured for me to follow her through a side exit.

+AA+

Alexandria led Chevalier, Legend, Myrrdin, and all of New Wave to a conference room where Armsmaster, Eidolon, and Director Piggot joined us shortly thereafter. When they arrived, a large screen on the wall lit up and a perfectly generic Asian-Canadian face appeared. Dragon had been invited as well. Joy.

"Care to explain your power in more depth?" Alexandria asked me.

_'__You can do this,'_ Korra reassured me.

_'__And if they lock you up, it'll just give you a chance to practice Korra's spirit transition thingy,' _Han added.

_'__Indeed, and that certainly makes up for spending days, if not weeks or months, locked up in Quarantine,' _Rai agreed with sarcasm as dry as the Sahara.

I took a deep breath and looked around at the assembled capes. Armsmaster and Alexandria had scowls set on their faces like they had been born with them. Legend stood several feet away from me with an encouraging smile and a cautious stance, while Myrrdin stood at ease and gestured for me to speak. Carol watched me with a slight frown and furrowed brows while the rest of New Wave tried their best to seem encouraging. Victoria's smile was especially radiant, framed by her bangs –

_'__Focus,'_ Korra mentally chided me.

I cleared my throat. "Well, I have aerokinesis like you already know, but in addition to hydrokinesis I've had pyrokinesis, geokinesis, metallokinesis and touch based biokinesis for years. Since I was six I suppose." I perked up, "Oh, and a sort of energy power that is supposed to let me take away that those powers or give them Chi, the stuff that makes me tougher. It's also required for the element powers I use."

As I spoke I saw both Armsmaster's and Alexandria's scowls deepen and after I stopped talking he asked me, "Why did you feel the need to hide these powers?"

I looked down at the floor. _'It'll be fine,'_ Korra assured me.

_'__Or they'll know to expect our next life,'_ Han amicably stated.

_'__We are going to find a way to the spirit world, and then I am going to beat you with a rock,'_ Rai informed him.

_'__Ditto,'_ Korra said.

_'__Leave some for me,'_ I told them as I looked back at Armsmaster's face, or at least his scowl and his beard. "Well," I said, "that's because of how the … knowledge works…" I paused, collecting my thoughts as my heart raced. "It isn't just knowledge… it's the previous holders of my powers…advising me."

I stopped at everyone tensed and Armsmaster lowered his halberd in my direction. "Like the Butcher?" he asked.

Victoria jumped between us. "Hey! She's not a crazy serial killer or anything, so leave her be!"

"No, it's okay," I told her. "It's part of the reason I didn't tell you. I thought you would think I was crazy."

"The rest of the reason?" Armsmaster asked wary tone.

I sighed. "I've already told them this, but when we first met I was six and they had just beaten my father half to death." I turned to look Carol in the eye. "Then you took me away and I was scared. You said my father was a bad person and that you were only protecting me, but how could I trust you?" I saw Carol stiffen. I clasped my hands together and continued in the otherwise quiet room. "I was just a kid, and we were never close… Mark tried but he was never really there… By the time realized I could possibly trust you, it felt like it was too late. If you were like that when you didn't know I'd been hiding powers, what would it be like after I told you…?" I turned to glare at Armsmaster and demanded, "Good enough?"

He grunted. It was Dragon who spoke up next. "You mentioned Chi?" she asked with a eyebrow raised.

"Yes, they say that it's the energy of life inside people and it's what allows people to bend – to use these abilities. Supposedly I can give people the energy required to be able to develop it without the spirit that's required for normal powers, but I never managed it with my cats."

"Bending?" Dragon asked at the same time Vicky asked, "Cats?"

I nodded at Victoria. "Yeah, I found a few strays that I feed whenever they come by." I saw Carol scowl and continued. "I also tried a few things like increasing muscle mass and making their fur glow. Most of it I reverted unless it helps them, like healing them or making them stronger but I always reverse changes that make them anything impossible for a cat to normally be."

_'__Except for the blue fur,' _Han interjected.

_'__The cat ran away before I could fix it,'_ I argued. Seeing their curious looks at my brief pause, I explained. "One of them reminded me that I didn't change a cat back when I made his fur blue, but what happened was he ran away before I could fix it."

"I thought Avatar was behind it," Armsmaster remarked.

"The voices are talking to you?" Victoria asked with concern in her voice.

"Normally, yeah," I explained, "but I can send them away if I want some privacy or one of them is being annoying."

"That happens?" Dragon asked.

_'__Never,' _ Han said.

"Yeah, but I've developed a tolerance for it," I told them. "He's worse than Clockblocker."

_'__Hey!'_

"Huh, that explains the oddly high tolerance for him," Eric joked.

_'__I knew he was a sharp one,' _Rai commented.

"Yeah," I agreed.

"He?" Victoria asked, discomfort growing in her voice.

"He's the only guy, the other three are girls – well, two of them are women – and he hasn't done anything too crude."

_'__Crude? I'm a sensitive flower,' _Han objected.

_'__Hah.' _Korra laughed.

"It's like if Clockblocker were following you around commenting on your actions" – I thought I saw Armsmaster suppress a shudder, but I wasn't sure underneath that bulky armor – "but you get used to it, especially when the others appreciate it as little as you do. They're nice enough, and their experience with their powers is really useful even if they aren't familiar with being heroes here, exactly."

"What do you mean 'here?'" Alexandria asked.

"Well, three of them are from another planet and one of them is a power," I explained. "Something happened and they ended up here and attaching to me when I was born. Then the power, I call her Claire, budded off of my father's power and attached to me, waking my past lives up somehow."

Alexandria's frown deepened. "You can talk with your power?"

"Yes, she's very energetic and likes to experiment. She's my biokinesis, my past lives didn't have that."

"On this other world?"

I nodded. "Yeah, they don't like talking about what happened, but they want to help deal with the powers and the things causing them here."

"They know what are causing powers?" Piggot asked, stepping forward as Legend and Alexandria tensed.

"Yes," I said, "Claire is some sort of multidimensional spirit-thing. I'm not clear on the specifics and she has trouble explaining the details in a way that doesn't make my head hurt."

Claire huffed. _'I'm here and a bunch of other places that are here. Especially now, Raava is very roomy.'_

_'__Um, right,'_ I replied. "When she budded to me, she went inside Raava, the spirit that is inside me and is responsible for my reincarnating powers, but Claire is also in a bunch of other places at once. I don't even know where to start with that." I sighed and dragged the meeting back on track. "Anyway, the point here is to tell you all about my spiritual purification technique and show it to you, in the hopes that you guys can translate what it does into science and hopefully replicate it so that it can be used to help with the other Endbringers."

"What is it supposed to do?" Dragon asked. "In the words of one of your passengers, if you don't mind."

"Not at all. Korra would have the most experience since she was the longest lived of them," I said, relieved that I didn't have to hide the voices in my head yet at the same time exhausted from the rollercoaster that today had been and the way it was just dragging on now. _'Up for the task?'_ I asked her.

_'__Sure,'_ she said, _'repeat after me as you do a demonstration on that chair.'_

"Do you have some water I could use?" I asked them, and Armsmaster offered me two plastic bottles of water.

She started to speak and I repeated her word for word as I unscrewed the bottle caps and let the water flow out, "Waterbending spiritual purification works like Amelia explained earlier. The waterbender calls up streams of water that encircle the target." I bent the water into streams and then into a sphere. "Once that's done, the bender then focuses on purity, on calmness and kindness in order to banish the spiritual darkness. This spiritual light is then released into the target. The idea is to banish dark spiritual energy and the associated negative emotions and intentions. Once that's done, the spirit acts in accordance with light and peace, returning to its normal habits depending on its nature. Since the Simurgh's purpose was to cause conflict and thus totally dark in nature, I think that she had all motives removed. Here's what it looks like." After waiting a second, I started bending the water into streams and then sending them around the chair before releasing the purifying light into it, turning a sinister office chair into an innocent office chair. "Given the at least partly spiritual nature of both Shards and Endbringers, the effects should be consistent. Did you get enough readings? I think Amelia's exhausted." I paused. "Um. I'm fine, though I'd prefer if we could continue this tomorrow."

"I think we've got enough readings for now, but we'll want more later," Dragon amicably told me.

"Yes, and we have some questions about these 'Shards,'" Alexandria said.

_'__That's pretty simple, you can just tell her now,' _Han said.

_'__Tell her what?'_ I asked.

'Okay, repeat after me…' Han said, trying to lead me. I was, however, skeptical. 'Fine,' he said in a huff, 'just say they're pieces of two biological-spiritual multi-**planar** space whales, one of which decided to be a hero and the other went AWOL before releasing three Endbringers out of twenty, though it could make more if it felt like it. Also, there was a third one involved at some point but it's off somewhere writing graffiti on asteroid belts or something.'

I shrugged and repeated that verbatim.

There was momentary quiet. Eventually Dragon asked, "You mean Scion is one of these… entities?"

"It's a best guess," I said. "I mean, it's not like he couldn't shapeshift or store most of himself elsewhere if he was. Not really sure why, but he seems genuinely dedicated to doing good, even if he's not as good at it as someone as powerful as him has any right to be, what with spending half his time rescuing cats from trees."

"…Right, and the other two?"

"Um, Claire explained that her parent was from a third thing, called the Destroyer, that gave some of its stuff to the second one, the Thinker, in exchange for some of that one's stuff before leaving the solar system or something. Um, after that the second one disappeared as far as we know, but Claire's been running into some of its Shards that have ended up in new capes since then so it's probably hiding. Also, the fact that the Endbringers are probably its creations instead of one of the other two space whales makes that more likely."

Alexandria stepped forward. "This does not leave this room." She turned to Dragon's screen. "This is need to know basis only, and no one, I repeat **no one **can be told without authorization from the highest echelons. Understand?" We all nodded as she glared at each of us in turn. "Good. We have Thinkers tracking the situation already and I can assure you that according to our best sources, the third entity is in fact a non-issue." She swept her gaze across the room again. "The second entity, this Thinker, is also a non-issue."

"I'd think that something that has possibly released the Endbringers would be a cause for concern," Carol stated with hard steel in her voice.

"It's dead," Legend said. "It was killed shortly after impact with the Earth."

'The Case 53s with the mystery tattoos and rumors of powers for sale,' Korra said.

"And you're using it," I concluded.

Legend frowned.

Alexandria spoke up, "The PRT and the Protectorate have been experimenting with powers, but it's a third group that has access to the body." She looked everyone in the room again. "This absolutely must not leave this room." She focused on Eidolon and we both saw that his fists were clenched and shaking slightly in anger. "Bring in S-Class nondisclosure forms as soon as this is finished. No one else leaves until they've signed." He nodded sharply before turning and striding out of the conference room. She turned back to the rest of us. "They are a group called Cauldron, and they have been experimenting with the body of the Thinker. They have also been involved in the sale and experimentation of superpowers. The reason that we know we have nothing to worry about from the Thinker and the Destroyer is because of testimony from one of their capes, the most powerful thinker this world has ever known. She has the power to know what steps to take to accomplish any goal, and she has said that the only entity that we have to worry about is the first one, Scion. Unfortunately, before the Thinker died, it blocked her power against the entities, leaving her with only a partly remembered plan."

"Why do we have to worry about Scion?" Victoria asked, worried and confused.

Legend sighed. "We're not sure why, but apparently he eventually gets tired of being a hero and decides that it would be better to simply kill everyone. We've agreed that for now it's best to prepare in secret. After all, if the wrong person hears about this and tries something, it could set him off early and we need to be as prepared as possible." Everyone looked thoroughly uncomfortable by that point. "However, it is possible that if Aerodyne's spiritual purification does work as intended, it could potentially head off this battle entirely."

There was a long silence.

Then Victoria spoke up, "Avatar. Her cape name is Avatar," she held up a clenched fist, "and we'll make sure Scion doesn't go crazy, or stop him if he does. Together."

_'__We're all gonna die,' _Han cheerfully declared.

"Together," I agreed.

_'__We're the Avatar, we don't lose when it counts, not even you,'_ Rai replied.

"Together," Erik said, followed by Crystal, and then Sarah, Neil and Mark.

_'__Saving the world is what we do,'_ Korra agreed.

Carol drew in a deep breath and nodded. "He thinks he can just blow up the world when he gets bored?" she demanded with indignation clear in her voice. "No way in hell am I letting him get away with that."

_'__Earth is too much fun to let it blow up, especially with you on it,' _Claire piped up.

Myrrdin held his staff up in the air pointed towards the center of our group. "As heroes, it is our ultimate duty to defend the world from grievous threats such as this. Of course I'm in."

Armsmaster and Chevalier shared a look before Chevalier stepped forward and said, "Was there any doubt I'd say yes?"

Armsmaster nodded. "Whatever I can do to help."

"We'll need to get to work immediately, but we can do this," Dragon said, her face looking away from the camera. "I'm already looking at his demonstrated capabilities and estimating up in case he's holding something back."

Director Piggot looked around the room and muttered, "I'm too old for this shit." She sighed. "I'll see what I can do to help."

+AA+


End file.
